Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa
by Dr. David Livingstone
Hypertext Meanings and Commentaries
from the Encyclopedia of the Self
by Mark Zimmerman
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Next morning the robber party came with about thirty yards of strong
striped English calico, an axe, and two hoes for our acceptance,
and returned the copper rings, as the chief was a great man, and did not need
the ornaments of my men, but we noticed that they were taken back again.
I divided the cloth among my men, and pleased them a little
by thus compensating for the loss of the ox. I advised the chief,
whose name we did not learn, as he did not deign to appear
except under the alias Matiamvo, to get cattle for his own use,
and expressed sorrow that I had none wherewith to enable him
to make a commencement. Rains prevented our proceeding till Thursday morning,
and then messengers appeared to tell us that their chief had learned
that all the cloth sent by him had not been presented; that the copper rings
had been secreted by the persons ordered to restore them to us,
and that he had stripped the thievish emissaries of their property
as a punishment. Our guides thought these were only spies of a larger party,
concealed in the forest through which we were now about to pass.
We prepared for defense by marching in a compact body,
and allowing no one to straggle far behind the others.
We marched through many miles of gloomy forest in gloomier silence,
but nothing disturbed us. We came to a village, and found all the men absent,
the guides thought, in the forest, with their countrymen.
I was too ill to care much whether we were attacked or not.
Though a pouring rain came on, as we were all anxious to get away
out of a bad neighborhood, we proceeded. The thick atmosphere
prevented my seeing the creeping plants in time to avoid them;
so Pitsane, Mohorisi, and I, who alone were mounted, were often caught;
and as there is no stopping the oxen when they have the prospect
of giving the rider a tumble, we came frequently to the ground.
In addition to these mishaps, Sinbad went off at a plunging gallop,
the bridle broke, and I came down backward on the crown of my head.
He gave me a kick on the thigh at the same time. I felt none the worse
for this rough treatment, but would not recommend it to others
as a palliative in cases of fever! This last attack of fever
was so obstinate that it reduced me almost to a skeleton.
The blanket which I used as a saddle on the back of the ox,
being frequently wet, remained so beneath me even in the hot sun,
and, aided by the heat of the ox, caused extensive abrasion of the skin,
which was continually healing and getting sore again. To this inconvenience
was now added the chafing of my projecting bones on the hard bed.

On Friday we came to a village of civil people on the banks
of the Loajima itself, and we were wet all day in consequence of crossing it.
The bridges over it, and another stream which we crossed at midday,
were submerged, as we have hitherto invariably found,
by a flood of perfectly clear water. At the second ford we were met
by a hostile party who refused us further passage. I ordered my men
to proceed in the same direction we had been pursuing,
but our enemies spread themselves out in front of us with loud cries.
Our numbers were about equal to theirs this time, so I moved on
at the head of my men. Some ran off to other villages,
or back to their own village, on pretense of getting ammunition;
others called out that all traders came to them, and that we must do the same.
As these people had plenty of iron-headed arrows and some guns,
when we came to the edge of the forest I ordered my men
to put the luggage in our centre; and, if our enemies did not fire,
to cut down some young trees and make a screen as quickly as possible,
but do nothing to them except in case of actual attack.
I then dismounted, and, advancing a little toward our principal opponent,
showed him how easily I could kill him, but pointed upward,
saying, "I fear God."  He did the same, placing his hand on his heart,
pointing upward, and saying, "I fear to kill; but come to our village;
come -- do come."  At this juncture, the old head man, Ionga Panza,
a venerable negro, came up, and I invited him and all to be seated,
that we might talk the matter over. Ionga Panza soon let us know
that he thought himself very ill treated in being passed by.
As most skirmishes arise from misunderstanding, this might have been
a serious one; for, like all the tribes near the Portuguese settlements,
people here imagine that they have a right to demand payment
from every one who passes through the country; and now, though Ionga Panza
was certainly no match for my men, yet they were determined
not to forego their right without a struggle. I removed with my men
to the vicinity of the village, thankful that no accident
had as yet brought us into actual collision.

The reason why the people have imbibed the idea so strongly
that they have a right to demand payment for leave to pass through the country
is probably this. They have seen no traders except those
either engaged in purchasing slaves, or who have slaves in their employment.
These slave-traders have always been very much at the mercy of the chiefs
through whose country they have passed; for if they afforded a ready asylum
for runaway slaves, the traders might be deserted at any moment,
and stripped of their property altogether. They are thus obliged
to curry favor with the chiefs, so as to get a safe conduct from them.
The same system is adopted to induce the chiefs to part with their people,
whom all feel to be the real source of their importance in the country.
On the return of the traders from the interior with chains of slaves,
it is so easy for a chief who may be so disposed to take away
a chain of eight or ten unresisting slaves, that the merchant is fain
to give any amount of presents in order to secure the good-will of the rulers.
The independent chiefs, not knowing why their favor is so eagerly sought,
become excessively proud and supercilious in their demands,
and look upon white men with the greatest contempt. To such lengths
did the Bangala, a tribe near to which we had now approached,
proceed a few years ago, that they compelled the Portuguese traders
to pay for water, wood, and even grass, and every possible pretext
was invented for levying fines; and these were patiently submitted to
so long as the slave-trade continued to flourish. We had unconsciously
come in contact with a system which was quite unknown in the country
from which my men had set out. An English trader may there hear a demand
for payment of guides, but never, so far as I am aware, is he asked to pay
for leave to traverse a country. The idea does not seem to have entered
the native mind, except through slave-traders, for the aborigines
all acknowledge that the untilled land, not needed for pasturage,
belongs to God alone, and that no harm is done by people passing through it.
I rather believe that, wherever the slave-trade has not penetrated,
the visits of strangers are esteemed a real privilege.

The village of old Ionga Panza (lat. 10d 25' S., long. 20d 15' E.) is small,
and embowered in lofty evergreen trees, which were hung around
with fine festoons of creepers. He sent us food immediately,
and soon afterward a goat, which was considered a handsome gift, there being
but few domestic animals, though the country is well adapted for them.
I suspect this, like the country of Shinte and Katema, must have been
a tsetse district, and only recently rendered capable of supporting
other domestic animals besides the goat, by the destruction of the game
through the extensive introduction of fire-arms. We might all have been
as ignorant of the existence of this insect plague as the Portuguese,
had it not been for the numerous migrations of pastoral tribes
which took place in the south in consequence of Zulu irruptions.

During these exciting scenes I always forgot my fever,
but a terrible sense of sinking came back with the feeling of safety.
The same demand of payment for leave to pass was made on the 20th
by old Ionga Panza as by the other Chiboque. I offered the shell
presented by Shinte, but Ionga Panza said he was too old for ornaments.
We might have succeeded very well with him, for he was
by no means unreasonable, and had but a very small village of supporters;
but our two guides from Kangenke complicated our difficulties
by sending for a body of Bangala traders, with a view to force us
to sell the tusks of Sekeletu, and pay them with the price. We offered
to pay them handsomely if they would perform their promise of guiding us
to Cassange, but they knew no more of the paths than we did;
and my men had paid them repeatedly, and tried to get rid of them,
but could not. They now joined with our enemies, and so did the traders.
Two guns and some beads belonging to the latter were standing
in our encampment, and the guides seized them and ran off.
As my men knew that we should be called upon to replace them, they gave chase,
and when the guides saw that they would be caught, they threw down the guns,
directed their flight to the village, and rushed into a hut.
The doorway is not much higher than that of a dog's kennel. One of the guides
was reached by one of my men as he was in the act of stooping to get in,
and a cut was inflicted on a projecting part of the body which would have made
any one in that posture wince. The guns were restored, but the beads
were lost in the flight. All I had remaining of my stock of beads
could not replace those lost; and though we explained that we had no part
in the guilt of the act, the traders replied that we had brought the thieves
into the country; these were of the Bangala, who had been accustomed
to plague the Portuguese in the most vexatious way. We were striving to get
a passage through the country, and, feeling anxious that no crime whatever
should be laid to our charge, tried the conciliatory plan here,
though we were not, as in the other instances, likely to be overpowered
by numbers.

My men offered all their ornaments, and I offered all my beads and shirts;
but, though we had come to the village against our will, and the guides
had also followed us contrary to our desire, and had even sent
for the Bangala traders without our knowledge or consent, yet matters
could not be arranged without our giving an ox and one of the tusks.
We were all becoming disheartened, and could not wonder
that native expeditions from the interior to the coast had generally failed
to reach their destinations. My people were now so much discouraged
that some proposed to return home; the prospect of being obliged to return
when just on the threshold of the Portuguese settlements
distressed me exceedingly. After using all my powers of persuasion,
I declared to them that if they returned I would go on alone,
and went into my little tent with the mind directed to Him
who hears the sighing of the soul, and was soon followed
by the head of Mohorisi, saying, "We will never leave you.
Do not be disheartened. Wherever you lead we will follow.
Our remarks were made only on account of the injustice of these people."
Others followed, and with the most artless simplicity of manner
told me to be comforted -- "they were all my children; they knew no one
but Sekeletu and me, and they would die for me; they had not fought because
I did not wish it; they had just spoken in the bitterness of their spirit,
and when feeling that they could do nothing; but if these enemies begin
you will see what we can do."  One of the oxen we offered to the Chiboque
had been rejected because he had lost part of his tail,
as they thought that it had been cut off and witchcraft medicine inserted;
and some mirth was excited by my proposing to raise a similar objection
to all the oxen we still had in our possession. The remaining four
soon presented a singular shortness of their caudal extremities, and though
no one ever asked whether they had medicine in the stumps or no, we were
no more troubled by the demand for an ox! We now slaughtered another ox,
that the spectacle might not be seen of the owners of the cattle fasting
while the Chiboque were feasting.

Chapter 19.

  Guides prepaid -- Bark Canoes -- Deserted by Guides --
  Mistakes respecting the Coanza -- Feelings of freed Slaves --
  Gardens and Villages -- Native Traders -- A Grave -- Valley of the Quango --
  Bamboo -- White Larvae used as Food -- Bashinje Insolence --
  A posing Question -- The Chief Sansawe -- His Hostility --
  Pass him safely -- The River Quango -- Chief's mode of dressing his Hair --
  Opposition -- Opportune Aid by Cypriano -- His generous Hospitality --
  Ability of Half-castes to read and write -- Books and Images --
  Marauding Party burned in the Grass -- Arrive at Cassange -- A good Supper
  -- Kindness of Captain Neves -- Portuguese Curiosity and Questions --
  Anniversary of the Resurrection -- No Prejudice against Color --
  Country around Cassange -- Sell Sekeletu's Ivory -- Makololo's Surprise
  at the high Price obtained -- Proposal to return Home, and Reasons --
  Soldier-guide -- Hill Kasala -- Tala Mungongo, Village of --
  Civility of Basongo -- True Negroes -- A Field of Wheat --
  Carriers -- Sleeping-places -- Fever -- Enter District of Ambaca --
  Good Fruits of Jesuit Teaching -- The `Tampan'; its Bite --
  Universal Hospitality of the Portuguese -- A Tale of the Mambari --
  Exhilarating Effects of Highland Scenery -- District of Golungo Alto --
  Want of good Roads -- Fertility -- Forests of gigantic Timber --
  Native Carpenters -- Coffee Estate -- Sterility of Country near the Coast --
  Mosquitoes -- Fears of the Makololo -- Welcome by Mr. Gabriel to Loanda.

24TH. Ionga Panza's sons agreed to act as guides into the territory
of the Portuguese if I would give them the shell given by Shinte.
I was strongly averse to this, and especially to give it beforehand,
but yielded to the entreaty of my people to appear as if showing confidence
in these hopeful youths. They urged that they wished to leave the shell
with their wives, as a sort of payment to them for enduring
their husbands' absence so long. Having delivered the precious shell,
we went west-by-north to the River Chikapa, which here (lat. 10d 22' S.)
is forty or fifty yards wide, and at present was deep;
it was seen flowing over a rocky, broken cataract with great noise
about half a mile above our ford. We were ferried over in a canoe,
made out of a single piece of bark sewed together at the ends,
and having sticks placed in it at different parts to act as ribs.
The word Chikapa means bark or skin; and as this is the only river
in which we saw this kind of canoe used, and we heard that this stream
is so low during most of the year as to be easily fordable,
it probably derives its name from the use made of the bark canoes
when it is in flood. We now felt the loss of our pontoon, for the people
to whom the canoe belonged made us pay once when we began to cross,
then a second time when half of us were over, and a third time
when all were over but my principal man Pitsane and myself.
Loyanke took off his cloth and paid my passage with it.
The Makololo always ferried their visitors over rivers without pay,
and now began to remark that they must in future fleece the Mambari
as these Chiboque had done to us; they had all been loud
in condemnation of the meanness, and when I asked if they could descend
to be equally mean, I was answered that they would only do it in revenge.
They like to have a plausible excuse for meanness.

Next morning our guides went only about a mile, and then told us
they would return home. I expected this when paying them beforehand,
in accordance with the entreaties of the Makololo, who are rather
ignorant of the world. Very energetic remonstrances were addressed
to the guides, but they slipped off one by one in the thick forest
through which we were passing, and I was glad to hear my companions
coming to the conclusion that, as we were now in parts visited by traders,
we did not require the guides, whose chief use had been
to prevent misapprehension of our objects in the minds of the villagers.
The country was somewhat more undulating now than it had been,
and several fine small streams flowed in deep woody dells.
The trees are very tall and straight, and the forests gloomy and damp;
the ground in these solitudes is quite covered with yellow and brown mosses,
and light-colored lichens clothe all the trees. The soil is
extremely fertile, being generally a black loam covered with
a thick crop of tall grasses. We passed several villages too.
The head man of a large one scolded us well for passing, when he intended
to give us food. Where slave-traders have been in the habit of coming,
they present food, then demand three or four times its value as a custom.
We were now rather glad to get past villages without intercourse
with the inhabitants.

We were traveling W.N.W., and all the rivulets we here crossed
had a northerly course, and were reported to fall into the Kasai or Loke;
most of them had the peculiar boggy banks of the country.
As we were now in the alleged latitude of the Coanza,
I was much astonished at the entire absence of any knowledge of that river
among the natives of this quarter. But I was then ignorant of the fact
that the Coanza rises considerably to the west of this,
and has a comparatively short course from its source to the sea.

The famous Dr. Lacerda seems to have labored under the same mistake as myself,
for he recommended the government of Angola to establish a chain of forts
along the banks of that river, with a view to communication
with the opposite coast. As a chain of forts along its course would lead
southward instead of eastward, we may infer that the geographical data
within reach of that eminent man were no better than those according to which
I had directed my course to the Coanza where it does not exist.

26TH. We spent Sunday on the banks of the Quilo or Kweelo,
here a stream of about ten yards wide. It runs in a deep glen,
the sides of which are almost five hundred yards of slope,
and rocky, the rocks being hardened calcareous tufa lying on
clay shale and sandstone below, with a capping of ferruginous conglomerate.
The scenery would have been very pleasing, but fever took away
much of the joy of life, and severe daily intermittents rendered me
very weak and always glad to recline.

As we were now in the slave-market, it struck me that the sense of insecurity
felt by the natives might account for the circumstance that those
who have been sold as slaves and freed again, when questioned,
profess to like the new state better than their primitive one.
They lived on rich, fertile plains, which seldom inspire that love of country
which the mountains do. If they had been mountaineers, they would have
pined for home. To one who has observed the hard toil of the poor
in old civilized countries, the state in which the inhabitants here live
is one of glorious ease. The country is full of little villages.
Food abounds, and very little labor is required for its cultivation;
the soil is so rich that no manure is required; when a garden
becomes too poor for good crops of maize, millet, etc.,
the owner removes a little farther into the forest, applies fire
round the roots of the larger trees to kill them, cuts down the smaller,
and a new, rich garden is ready for the seed. The gardens usually present
the appearance of a large number of tall, dead trees standing without bark,
and maize growing between them. The old gardens continue
to yield manioc for years after the owners have removed to other spots
for the sake of millet and maize. But, while vegetable aliment is abundant,
there is a want of salt and animal food, so that numberless traps are seen,
set for mice, in all the forests of Londa. The vegetable diet
leaves great craving for flesh, and I have no doubt but that,
when an ordinary quantity of mixed food is supplied to freed slaves,
they actually do feel more comfortable than they did at home.
Their assertions, however, mean but little, for they always try
to give an answer to please, and if one showed them a nugget of gold,
they would generally say that these abounded in their country.

One could detect, in passing, the variety of character found among the owners
of gardens and villages. Some villages were the pictures of neatness.
We entered others enveloped in a wilderness of weeds, so high that,
when sitting on ox-back in the middle of the village, we could only see
the tops of the huts. If we entered at midday, the owners would come
lazily forth, pipe in hand, and leisurely puff away in dreamy indifference.
In some villages weeds are not allowed to grow; cotton, tobacco,
and different plants used as relishes are planted round the huts;
fowls are kept in cages, and the gardens present the pleasant spectacle
of different kinds of grain and pulse at various periods of their growth.
I sometimes admired the one class, and at times wished
I could have taken the world easy for a time like the other.
Every village swarms with children, who turn out to see the white man pass,
and run along with strange cries and antics; some run up trees
to get a good view: all are agile climbers throughout Londa.
At friendly villages they have scampered alongside our party
for miles at a time. We usually made a little hedge around our sheds;
crowds of women came to the entrance of it, with children on their backs,
and long pipes in their mouths, gazing at us for hours.
The men, rather than disturb them, crawled through a hole in the hedge,
and it was common to hear a man in running off say to them,
"I am going to tell my mamma to come and see the white man's oxen."

In continuing our W.N.W. course, we met many parties of native traders,
each carrying some pieces of cloth and salt, with a few beads
to barter for bees'-wax. They are all armed with Portuguese guns,
and have cartridges with iron balls. When we meet we usually stand
a few minutes. They present a little salt, and we give a bit of ox-hide,
or some other trifle, and then part with mutual good wishes.
The hide of the oxen we slaughtered had been a valuable addition
to our resources, for we found it in so great repute for girdles
all through Loanda that we cut up every skin into strips
about two inches broad, and sold them for meal and manioc as we went along.
As we came nearer Angola we found them of less value, as the people there
possess cattle themselves.

The village on the Kweelo, at which we spent Sunday, was that of a civil,
lively old man, called Sakandala, who offered no objections to our progress.
We found we should soon enter on the territory of the Bashinje
(Chinge of the Portuguese), who are mixed with another tribe, named Bangala,
which have been at war with the Babindele or Portuguese. Rains and fever,
as usual, helped to impede our progress until we were put on the path which
leads from Cassange and Bihe to Matiamvo, by a head man named Kamboela.
This was a well-beaten footpath, and soon after entering upon it
we met a party of half-caste traders from Bihe, who confirmed the information
we had already got of this path leading straight to Cassange,
through which they had come on their way from Bihe to Cabango.
They kindly presented my men with some tobacco, and marveled greatly
when they found that I had never been able to teach myself to smoke.
On parting with them we came to a trader's grave. This was marked
by a huge cone of sticks placed in the form of the roof of a hut,
with a palisade around it. At an opening on the western side
an ugly idol was placed: several strings of beads and bits of cloth
were hung around. We learned that he had been a half-caste,
who had died on his way back from Matiamvo.

As we were now alone, and sure of being on the way to the abodes
of civilization, we went on briskly.

On the 30th we came to a sudden descent from the high land,
indented by deep, narrow valleys, over which we had lately been traveling.
It is generally so steep that it can only be descended at particular points,
and even there I was obliged to dismount, though so weak
that I had to be led by my companions to prevent my toppling over
in walking down. It was annoying to feel myself so helpless,
for I never liked to see a man, either sick or well, giving in effeminately.
Below us lay the valley of the Quango. If you sit on the spot
where Mary Queen of Scots viewed the battle of Langside,
and look down on the vale of Clyde, you may see in miniature
the glorious sight which a much greater and richer valley
presented to our view. It is about a hundred miles broad,
clothed with dark forest, except where the light green grass
covers meadow-lands on the Quango, which here and there glances out in the sun
as it wends its way to the north. The opposite side of this great valley
appears like a range of lofty mountains, and the descent into it
about a mile, which, measured perpendicularly, may be from a thousand
to twelve hundred feet. Emerging from the gloomy forests of Londa,
this magnificent prospect made us all feel as if a weight had been lifted
off our eyelids. A cloud was passing across the middle of the valley,
from which rolling thunder pealed, while above all was glorious sunlight;
and when we went down to the part where we saw it passing, we found
that a very heavy thunder-shower had fallen under the path of the cloud;
and the bottom of the valley, which from above seemed quite smooth,
we discovered to be intersected and furrowed by great numbers
of deep-cut streams. Looking back from below, the descent appears
as the edge of a table-land, with numerous indented dells and spurs
jutting out all along, giving it a serrated appearance.
Both the top and sides of the sierra are covered with trees,
but large patches of the more perpendicular parts are bare,
and exhibit the red soil, which is general over the region
we have now entered.

The hollow affords a section of this part of the country; and we find
that the uppermost stratum is the ferruginous conglomerate already mentioned.
The matrix is rust of iron (or hydrous peroxide of iron and hematite),
and in it are imbedded water-worn pebbles of sandstone and quartz.
As this is the rock underlying the soil of a large part of Londa,
its formation must have preceded the work of denudation by an arm of the sea,
which washed away the enormous mass of matter required
before the valley of Cassange could assume its present form.
The strata under the conglomerate are all of red clay shale
of different degrees of hardness, the most indurated being at the bottom.
This red clay shale is named "keele" in Scotland, and has always been
considered as an indication of gold; but the only thing we discovered
was that it had given rise to a very slippery clay soil, so different
from that which we had just left that Mashauana, who always prided himself
on being an adept at balancing himself in the canoe on water,
and so sure of foot on land that he could afford to express contempt
for any one less gifted, came down in a very sudden and undignified manner,
to the delight of all whom he had previously scolded for falling.

Here we met with the bamboo as thick as a man's arm, and many new trees.
Others, which we had lost sight of since leaving Shinte, now reappeared;
but nothing struck us more than the comparative scragginess of the trees
in this hollow. Those on the high lands we had left were tall and straight;
here they were stunted, and not by any means so closely planted together.
The only way I could account for this was by supposing,
as the trees were of different species, that the greater altitude
suited the nature of those above better than the lower altitude did
the other species below.

SUNDAY, APRIL 2D. We rested beside a small stream, and our hunger
being now very severe, from having lived on manioc alone
since leaving Ionza Panza's, we slaughtered one of our four remaining oxen.
The people of this district seem to feel the craving for animal food
as much as we did, for they spend much energy in digging large white larvae
out of the damp soil adjacent to their streams, and use them as a relish
to their vegetable diet. The Bashinje refused to sell any food
for the poor old ornaments my men had now to offer. We could get
neither meal nor manioc, but should have been comfortable
had not the Bashinje chief Sansawe pestered us for the customary present.
The native traders informed us that a display of force was often necessary
before they could pass this man.

Sansawe, the chief of a portion of the Bashinje, having sent
the usual formal demand for a man, an ox, or a tusk,
spoke very contemptuously of the poor things we offered him instead.
We told his messengers that the tusks were Sekeletu's: every thing was gone
except my instruments, which could be of no use to them whatever.
One of them begged some meat, and, when it was refused,
said to my men, "You may as well give it, for we shall take all
after we have killed you to-morrow."  The more humbly we spoke,
the more insolent the Bashinje became, till at last we were all feeling
savage and sulky, but continued to speak as civilly as we could.
They are fond of argument, and when I denied their right to demand tribute
from a white man, who did not trade in slaves, an old white-headed negro
put rather a posing question: "You know that God has placed chiefs among us
whom we ought to support. How is it that you, who have a book that tells you
about him, do not come forward at once to pay this chief tribute
like every one else?"  I replied by asking, "How could I know
that this was a chief, who had allowed me to remain a day and a half near him
without giving me any thing to eat?"  This, which to the uninitiated
may seem sophistry, was to the Central Africans quite a rational question,
for he at once admitted that food ought to have been sent,
and added that probably his chief was only making it ready for me,
and that it would come soon.

After being wearied by talking all day to different parties sent by Sansawe,
we were honored by a visit from himself: he is quite a young man,
and of rather a pleasing countenance. There can not have been
much intercourse between real Portuguese and these people even here,
so close to the Quango, for Sansawe asked me to show him my hair,
on the ground that, though he had heard of it, and some white men
had even passed through his country, he had never seen straight hair before.
This is quite possible, as most of the slave-traders are not Portuguese,
but half-castes. The difference between their wool and our hair
caused him to burst into a laugh, and the contrast between
the exposed and unexposed parts of my skin, when exhibited
in evidence of our all being made of one stock originally,
and the children of one Maker, seemed to strike him with wonder.
I then showed him my watch, and wished to win my way into his confidence
by conversation; but, when about to exhibit my pocket compass,
he desired me to desist, as he was afraid of my wonderful things.
I told him, if he knew my aims as the tribes in the interior did,
and as I hoped he would yet know them and me, he would be glad to stay,
and see also the pictures of the magic lantern; but, as it was now
getting dark, he had evidently got enough of my witchery,
and began to use some charms to dispel any kindly feelings
he might have found stealing round his heart. He asked leave to go,
and when his party moved off a little way, he sent for my spokesman,
and told him that, "if we did not add a red jacket and a man
to our gift of a few copper rings and a few pounds of meat,
we must return by the way we had come."  I said in reply "that we should
certainly go forward next day, and if he commenced hostilities,
the blame before God would be that of Sansawe;" and my man added
of his own accord, "How many white men have you killed in this path?"
which might be interpreted into, "You have never killed any white man,
and you will find ours more difficult to manage than you imagine."
It expressed a determination, which we had often repeated to each other,
to die rather than yield one of our party to be a slave.

Hunger has a powerful effect on the temper. When we had got
a good meal of meat, we could all bear the petty annoyances of these borderers
on the more civilized region in front with equanimity; but having suffered
considerably of late, we were all rather soured in our feelings,
and not unfrequently I overheard my companions remark in their own tongue,
in answer to threats of attack, "That's what we want: only begin then;"
or with clenched teeth they would exclaim to each other,
"These things have never traveled, and do not know what men are."
The worrying, of which I give only a slight sketch, had considerable influence
on my own mind, and more especially as it was impossible to make any allowance
for the Bashinje, such as I was willing to award to the Chiboque.
They saw that we had nothing to give, nor would they be benefited in the least
by enforcing the impudent order to return whence we had come.
They were adding insult to injury, and this put us all into a fighting spirit,
and, as nearly as we could judge, we expected to be obliged
to cut our way through the Bashinje next morning.

3D APRIL. As soon as day dawned we were astir, and, setting off
in a drizzling rain, passed close to the village. This rain probably damped
the ardor of the robbers. We, however, expected to be fired upon
from every clump of trees, or from some of the rocky hillocks
among which we were passing; and it was only after two hours' march
that we began to breathe freely, and my men remarked, in thankfulness,
"We are children of Jesus."  We continued our course,
notwithstanding the rain, across the bottom of the Quango Valley,
which we found broken by clay shale rocks jutting out,
though lying nearly horizontally. The grass in all the hollows,
at this time quite green, was about two feet higher than my head
while sitting on ox-back. This grass, wetted by the rain,
acted as a shower-bath on one side of our bodies; and some deep gullies,
full of DISCOLORED water, completed the cooling process.
We passed many villages during this drenching, one of which
possessed a flock of sheep; and after six hours we came to a stand
near the River Quango (lat. 9d 53' S., long. 18d 37' E.),
which may be called the boundary of the Portuguese claims to territory
on the west. As I had now no change of clothing, I was glad to cower
under the shelter of my blanket, thankful to God for his goodness
in bringing us so far without losing one of the party.

4TH APRIL. We were now on the banks of the Quango,
a river one hundred and fifty yards wide, and very deep.
The water was discolored -- a circumstance which we had observed
in no river in Londa or in the Makololo country. This fine river
flows among extensive meadows clothed with gigantic grass and reeds,
and in a direction nearly north.

The Quango is said by the natives to contain many venomous water-snakes,
which congregate near the carcass of any hippopotamus
that may be killed in it. If this is true, it may account
for all the villages we saw being situated far from its banks.
We were advised not to sleep near it; but, as we were anxious
to cross to the western side, we tried to induce some of the Bashinje
to lend us canoes for the purpose. This brought out the chief of these parts,
who informed us that all the canoe-men were his children,
and nothing could be done without his authority. He then made
the usual demand for a man, an ox, or a gun, adding that otherwise
we must return to the country from which we had come. As I did not believe
that this man had any power over the canoes of the other side, and suspected
that if I gave him my blanket -- the only thing I now had in reserve --
he might leave us in the lurch after all, I tried to persuade my men to go
at once to the bank, about two miles off, and obtain possession of the canoes
before we gave up the blanket; but they thought that this chief
might attack us in the act of crossing, should we do so.
The chief came himself to our encampment and made his demand again.
My men stripped off the last of their copper rings and gave them;
but he was still intent on a man. He thought, as others did,
that my men were slaves. He was a young man, with his woolly hair
elaborately dressed: that behind was made up into a cone, about eight inches
in diameter at the base, carefully swathed round with red and black thread.
As I resisted the proposal to deliver up my blanket until they had placed us
on the western bank, this chief continued to worry us with his demands
till I was tired. My little tent was now in tatters,
and having a wider hole behind than the door in front, I tried in vain
to lie down out of sight of our persecutors. We were on a reedy flat,
and could not follow our usual plan of a small stockade,
in which we had time to think over and concoct our plans. As I was trying
to persuade my men to move on to the bank in spite of these people,
a young half-caste Portuguese sergeant of militia, Cypriano di Abreu,
made his appearance, and gave the same advice. He had come across the Quango
in search of bees'-wax. When we moved off from the chief
who had been plaguing us, his people opened a fire from our sheds,
and continued to blaze away some time in the direction we were going,
but none of the bullets reached us. It is probable that
they expected a demonstration of the abundance of ammunition they possessed
would make us run; but when we continued to move quietly to the ford,
they proceeded no farther than our sleeping-place. Cypriano assisted us
in making a more satisfactory arrangement with the ferrymen
than parting with my blanket; and as soon as we reached the opposite bank
we were in the territory of the Bangala, who are subjects of the Portuguese,
and often spoken of as the Cassanges or Cassantse; and happily
all our difficulties with the border tribes were at an end.

Passing with light hearts through the high grass by a narrow footpath
for about three miles to the west of the river, we came to
several neat square houses, with many cleanly-looking half-caste Portuguese
standing in front of them to salute us. They are all enrolled in the militia,
and our friend Cypriano is the commander of a division established here.
The Bangala were very troublesome to the Portuguese traders,
and at last proceeded so far as to kill one of them; the government of Angola
then sent an expedition against them, which being successful, the Bangala
were dispersed, and are now returning to their former abodes as vassals.
The militia are quartered among them, and engage in trade and agriculture
for their support, as no pay is given to this branch of the service
by the government.

We came to the dwelling of Cypriano after dark, and I pitched my little tent
in front of it for the night. We had the company of mosquitoes here.
We never found them troublesome on the banks of the pure streams of Londa.
On the morning of the 5th Cypriano generously supplied my men
with pumpkins and maize, and then invited me to breakfast, which consisted of
ground-nuts and roasted maize, then boiled manioc roots and ground-nuts,
with guavas and honey as a dessert. I felt sincerely grateful
for this magnificent breakfast.

At dinner Cypriano was equally bountiful, and several of his friends
joined us in doing justice to his hospitality. Before eating,
all had water poured on the hands by a female slave to wash them.
One of the guests cut up a fowl with a knife and fork.
Neither forks nor spoons were used in eating. The repast was partaken of
with decency and good manners, and concluded by washing the hands as at first.

All of them could read and write with ease. I examined the books
they possessed, and found a small work on medicine, a small cyclopaedia,
and a Portuguese dictionary, in which the definition of a "priest" seemed
strange to a Protestant, namely, "one who takes care of the conscience."
They had also a few tracts containing the Lives of the Saints,
and Cypriano had three small wax images of saints in his room. One of these
was St. Anthony, who, had he endured the privations he did in his cell
in looking after these lost sheep, would have lived to better purpose.
Neither Cypriano nor his companions knew what the Bible was,
but they had relics in German-silver cases hung round their necks,
to act as charms and save them from danger by land or by water,
in the same way as the heathen have medicines. It is a pity that the Church
to which they belong, when unable to attend to the wants of her children,
does not give them the sacred writings in their own tongue;
it would surely be better to see them good Protestants, if these
would lead them to be so, than entirely ignorant of God's message to man.
For my part, I would much prefer to see the Africans good Roman Catholics
than idolatrous heathen.

Much of the civility shown to us here was, no doubt, owing to the flattering
letters of recommendation I carried from the Chevalier Du Prat, of Cape Town;
but I am inclined to believe that my friend Cypriano was influenced, too,
by feelings of genuine kindness, for he quite bared his garden
in feeding us during the few days which I remained, anxiously expecting
the clouds to disperse, so far as to allow of my taking observations for
the determination of the position of the Quango. He slaughtered an ox for us,
and furnished his mother and her maids with manioc roots,
to prepare farina for the four or five days of our journey to Cassange,
and never even hinted at payment. My wretched appearance must have excited
his compassion. The farina is prepared by washing the roots well,
then rasping them down to a pulp. Next, this is roasted slightly
on a metal plate over a fire, and is then used with meat as a vegetable.
It closely resembles wood-sawings, and on that account is named "wood-meal".
It is insipid, and employed to lick up any gravy remaining on one's plate.
Those who have become accustomed to it relish it even after they have returned
to Europe.

The manioc cultivated here is of the sweet variety; the bitter,
to which we were accustomed in Londa, is not to be found very extensively
in this fertile valley. May is the beginning of winter,
yet many of the inhabitants were busy planting maize;
that which we were now eating was planted in the beginning of February.
The soil is exceedingly fertile, of a dark red color,
and covered with such a dense, heavy crop of coarse grass,
that when a marauding party of Ambonda once came for plunder
while it was in a dried state, the Bangala encircled the common enemy
with a fire which completely destroyed them. This, which is related
on the authority of Portuguese who were then in the country,
I can easily believe to be true, for the stalks of the grass
are generally as thick as goose-quills, and no flight could be made
through the mass of grass in any direction where a footpath does not exist.
Probably, in the case mentioned, the direction of the wind was such
as to drive the flames across the paths, and prevent escape along them.
On one occasion I nearly lost my wagon by fire, in a valley where the grass
was only about three feet high. We were roused by the roar, as of a torrent,
made by the fire coming from the windward. I immediately set fire
to that on our leeward, and had just time to drag the wagon
on to the bare space there before the windward flames reached the place
where it had stood.

We were detained by rains and a desire to ascertain our geographical position
till Monday, the 10th, and only got the latitude 9d 50' S.;
and, after three days' pretty hard traveling through the long grass,
reached Cassange, the farthest inland station of the Portuguese
in Western Africa. We crossed several fine little streams
running into the Quango; and as the grass continued to tower
about two feet over our heads, it generally obstructed our view
of the adjacent country, and sometimes hung over the path,
making one side of the body wet with the dew every morning,
or, when it rained, kept me wet during the whole day. I made my entrance
in a somewhat forlorn state as to clothing among our Portuguese allies.
The first gentleman I met in the village asked if I had a passport,
and said it was necessary to take me before the authorities.
As I was in the same state of mind in which individuals are who commit
a petty depredation in order to obtain the shelter and food of a prison,
I gladly accompanied him to the house of the commandant or Chefe,
Senhor de Silva Rego. Having shown my passport to this gentleman,
he politely asked me to supper, and, as we had eaten nothing
except the farina of Cypriano from the Quango to this, I suspect I appeared
particularly ravenous to the other gentlemen around the table.
They seemed, however, to understand my position pretty well,
from having all traveled extensively themselves; had they not been present,
I might have put some in my pocket to eat by night; for, after fever,
the appetite is excessively keen, and manioc is one of the most unsatisfying
kinds of food. Captain Antonio Rodrigues Neves then kindly invited me
to take up my abode in his house. Next morning this generous man arrayed me
in decent clothing, and continued during the whole period of my stay
to treat me as if I had been his brother. I feel deeply grateful to him
for his disinterested kindness. He not only attended to my wants,
but also furnished food for my famishing party free of charge.

The village of Cassange (pronounced Kassanje) is composed of
thirty or forty traders' houses, scattered about without any regularity,
on an elevated flat spot in the great Quango or Cassange valley.
They are built of wattle and daub, and surrounded by plantations of manioc,
maize, etc. Behind them there are usually kitchen gardens,
in which the common European vegetables, as potatoes, peas, cabbages,
onions, tomatoes, etc., etc., grow. Guavas and bananas appear,
from the size and abundance of the trees, to have been introduced
many years ago, while the land was still in the possession of the natives;
but pine-apples, orange, fig, and cashew trees have but lately been tried.
There are about forty Portuguese traders in this district,
all of whom are officers in the militia, and many of them have become rich
from adopting the plan of sending out Pombeiros, or native traders, with large
quantities of goods, to trade in the more remote parts of the country.
Some of the governors of Loanda, the capital of this, the kingdom of Angola,
have insisted on the observance of a law which, from motives of humanity,
forbids the Portuguese themselves from passing beyond the boundary.
They seem to have taken it for granted that, in cases where
the white trader was killed, the aggression had been made by him,
and they wished to avoid the necessity of punishing those who had been
provoked to shed Portuguese blood. This indicates a much greater impartiality
than has obtained in our own dealings with the Caffres,
for we have engaged in most expensive wars with them without once inquiring
whether any of the fault lay with our frontier colonists.
The Cassange traders seem inclined to spread along the Quango,
in spite of the desire of their government to keep them on one spot,
for mutual protection in case of war. If I might judge
from the week of feasting I passed among them, they are generally prosperous.

As I always preferred to appear in my own proper character,
I was an object of curiosity to these hospitable Portuguese.
They evidently looked upon me as an agent of the English government,
engaged in some new movement for the suppression of slavery. They could
not divine what a "missionario" had to do with the latitudes and longitudes,
which I was intent on observing. When we became a little familiar,
the questions put were rather amusing: "Is it common for missionaries
to be doctors?"  "Are you a doctor of medicine and a `doutor mathematico' too?
You must be more than a missionary to know how to calculate the longitude!
Come, tell us at once what rank you hold in the English army."
They may have given credit to my reason for wearing the mustache,
as that explains why men have beards and women have none;
but that which puzzled many besides my Cassange friends
was the anomaly of my being a "sacerdote", with a wife and four children!
I usually got rid of the last question by putting another:
"Is it not better to have children with a wife, than to have children
without a wife?"  But all were most kind and hospitable;
and as one of their festivals was near, they invited me
to partake of the feast.

The anniversary of the Resurrection of our Savior was observed
on the 16th of April as a day of rejoicing, though the Portuguese
have no priests at Cassange. The colored population dressed up a figure
intended to represent Judas Iscariot, and paraded him on a riding-ox
about the village; sneers and maledictions were freely bestowed
on the poor wretch thus represented. The slaves and free colored population,
dressed in their gayest clothing, made visits to all the principal merchants,
and wishing them "a good feast", expected a present in return.
This, though frequently granted in the shape of pieces of calico
to make new dresses, was occasionally refused, but the rebuff
did not much affect the petitioner.

At ten A.M. we went to the residence of the commandant, and on a signal
being given, two of the four brass guns belonging to the government
commenced firing, and continued some time, to the great admiration of my men,
whose ideas of the power of a cannon are very exalted.
The Portuguese flag was hoisted and trumpets sounded,
as an expression of joy at the resurrection of our Lord.
Captain Neves invited all the principal inhabitants of the place,
and did what he could to feast them in a princely style.
All manner of foreign preserved fruits and wine from Portugal,
biscuits from America, butter from Cork, and beer from England,
were displayed, and no expense spared in rendering the entertainment joyous.
After the feast was over they sat down to the common amusement
of card-playing, which continued till eleven o'clock at night.
As far as a mere traveler could judge, they seemed to be polite and willing
to aid each other. They live in a febrile district, and many of them had
enlarged spleens. They have neither doctor, apothecary, school, nor priest,
and, when taken ill, trust to each other and to Providence.
As men left in such circumstances must think for themselves, they have all
a good idea of what ought to be done in the common diseases of the country,
and what they have of either medicine or skill they freely impart
to each other.

None of these gentlemen had Portuguese wives. They usually come to Africa
in order to make a little money, and return to Lisbon. Hence they seldom
bring their wives with them, and never can be successful colonists
in consequence. It is common for them to have families by native women.
It was particularly gratifying to me, who had been familiar
with the stupid prejudice against color, entertained only by those who are
themselves becoming tawny, to view the liberality with which people of color
were treated by the Portuguese. Instances, so common in the South,
in which half-caste children are abandoned, are here extremely rare.
They are acknowledged at table, and provided for by their fathers
as if European. The colored clerks of the merchants sit
at the same table with their employers without any embarrassment.
The civil manners of superiors to inferiors is probably the result
of the position they occupy -- a few whites among thousands of blacks;
but nowhere else in Africa is there so much good-will
between Europeans and natives as here. If some border colonists
had the absolute certainty of our government declining to bear them out
in their arrogance, we should probably hear less of Caffre insolence.
It is insolence which begets insolence.

From the village of Cassange we have a good view of the surrounding country:
it is a gently undulating plain, covered with grass and patches of forest.
The western edge of the Quango valley appears, about twenty miles off,
as if it were a range of lofty mountains, and passes by
the name of Tala Mungongo, "Behold the Range". In the old Portuguese map,
to which I had been trusting in planning my route, it is indicated
as Talla Mugongo, or "Castle of Rocks!" and the Coanza is put down
as rising therefrom; but here I was assured that the Coanza had its source
near Bihe, far to the southwest of this, and we should not see that river
till we came near Pungo Andonga. It is somewhat remarkable
that more accurate information about this country has not been published.
Captain Neves and others had a correct idea of the courses of the rivers,
and communicated their knowledge freely; yet about this time
maps were sent to Europe from Angola representing the Quango and Coanza
as the same river, and Cassange placed about one hundred miles
from its true position. The frequent recurrence of the same name has probably
helped to increase the confusion. I have crossed several Quangos,
but all insignificant, except that which drains this valley.
The repetition of the favorite names of chiefs, as Catende,
is also perplexing, as one Catende may be mistaken for another.
To avoid this confusion as much as possible, I have refrained from introducing
many names. Numerous villages are studded all over the valley;
but these possess no permanence, and many more existed previous to
the Portuguese expedition of 1850 to punish the Bangala.

This valley, as I have before remarked, is all fertile in the extreme.
My men could never cease admiring its capability for raising
their corn (`Holcus sorghum'), and despising the comparatively limited
cultivation of the inhabitants. The Portuguese informed me that no manure
is ever needed, but that, the more the ground is tilled, the better it yields.
Virgin soil does not give such a heavy crop as an old garden,
and, judging from the size of the maize and manioc in the latter,
I can readily believe the statement. Cattle do well, too. Viewing the valley
as a whole, it may be said that its agricultural and pastoral riches
are lying waste. Both the Portuguese and their descendants
turn their attention almost exclusively to trade in wax and ivory,
and though the country would yield any amount of corn and dairy produce,
the native Portuguese live chiefly on manioc, and the Europeans
purchase their flour, bread, butter, and cheese from the Americans.

As the traders of Cassange were the first white men we had come to,
we sold the tusks belonging to Sekeletu, which had been brought to test
the difference of prices in the Makololo and white men's country.
The result was highly satisfactory to my companions, as the Portuguese give
much larger prices for ivory than traders from the Cape can possibly give,
who labor under the disadvantage of considerable overland expenses
and ruinous restrictions. Two muskets, three small barrels of gunpowder,
and English calico and baize sufficient to clothe my whole party,
with large bunches of beads, all for one tusk, were quite delightful
for those who had been accustomed to give two tusks for one gun.
With another tusk we procured calico, which here is the chief currency,
to pay our way down to the coast. The remaining two were sold for money
to purchase a horse for Sekeletu at Loanda.

The superiority of this new market was quite astounding to the Makololo,
and they began to abuse the traders by whom they had, while in
their own country, been visited, and, as they now declared, "cheated".
They had no idea of the value of time and carriage, and it was somewhat
difficult for me to convince them that the reason of the difference of prices
lay entirely in what they themselves had done in coming here,
and that, if the Portuguese should carry goods to their country,
they would by no means be so liberal in their prices. They imagined that,
if the Cassange traders came to Linyanti, they would continue
to vend their goods at Cassange prices. I believe I gave them at last
a clear idea of the manner in which prices were regulated
by the expenses incurred; and when we went to Loanda, and saw goods delivered
at a still cheaper rate, they concluded that it would be better for them
to come to that city, than to turn homeward at Cassange.

It was interesting for me to observe the effects of the restrictive policy
pursued by the Cape government toward the Bechuanas. Like all other
restrictions on trade, the law of preventing friendly tribes
from purchasing arms and ammunition only injures the men who enforce it.
The Cape government, as already observed, in order to gratify
a company of independent Boers, whose well-known predilection
for the practice of slavery caused them to stipulate that
a number of peaceable, honest tribes should be kept defenseless,
agreed to allow free trade in arms and ammunition to the Boers,
and prevent the same trade to the Bechuanas. The Cape government
thereby unintentionally aided, and continues to aid, the Boers
to enslave the natives. But arms and ammunition flow in on all sides
by new channels, and where formerly the price of a large tusk
procured but one musket, one tusk of the same size now brings ten.
The profits are reaped by other nations, and the only persons
really the losers, in the long run, are our own Cape merchants,
and a few defenseless tribes of Bechuanas on our immediate frontier.

Mr. Rego, the commandant, very handsomely offered me a soldier as a guard
to Ambaca. My men told me that they had been thinking it would be better
to turn back here, as they had been informed by the people of color
at Cassange that I was leading them down to the sea-coast only to sell them,
and they would be taken on board ship, fattened, and eaten, as the white men
were cannibals. I asked if they had ever heard of an Englishman
buying or selling people; if I had not refused to take a slave
when she was offered to me by Shinte; but, as I had always behaved
as an English teacher, if they now doubted my intentions,
they had better not go to the coast; I, however, who expected to meet
some of my countrymen there, was determined to go on. They replied
that they only thought it right to tell me what had been told to them,
but they did not intend to leave me, and would follow wherever I should
lead the way. This affair being disposed of for the time,
the commandant gave them an ox, and me a friendly dinner before parting.
All the merchants of Cassange accompanied us, in their hammocks
carried by slaves, to the edge of the plateau on which their village stands,
and we parted with the feeling in my mind that I should never forget
their disinterested kindness. They not only did every thing they could
to make my men and me comfortable during our stay; but, there being no hotels
in Loanda, they furnished me with letters of recommendation to their friends
in that city, requesting them to receive me into their houses,
for without these a stranger might find himself a lodger in the streets.
May God remember them in their day of need!

The latitude and longitude of Cassange, the most easterly station
of the Portuguese in Western Africa, is lat. 9d 37' 30" S.,
and long. 17d 49' E.; consequently we had still about 300 miles to traverse
before we could reach the coast. We had a black militia corporal as a guide.
He was a native of Ambaca, and, like nearly all the inhabitants
of that district, known by the name of Ambakistas, could both read and write.
He had three slaves with him, and was carried by them in a "tipoia",
or hammock slung to a pole. His slaves were young, and unable
to convey him far at a time, but he was considerate enough to walk
except when we came near to a village. He then mounted his tipoia
and entered the village in state; his departure was made in the same manner,
and he continued in the hammock till the village was out of sight.
It was interesting to observe the manners of our soldier-guide.
Two slaves were always employed in carrying his tipoia,
and the third carried a wooden box, about three feet long,
containing his writing materials, dishes, and clothing.
He was cleanly in all his ways, and, though quite black himself,
when he scolded any one of his own color, abused him as a "negro".
When he wanted to purchase any article from a village, he would sit down,
mix a little gunpowder as ink, and write a note in a neat hand
to ask the price, addressing it to the shopkeeper with
the rather pompous title, "Illustrissimo Senhor" (Most Illustrious Sir).
This is the invariable mode of address throughout Angola. The answer returned
would be in the same style, and, if satisfactory, another note followed
to conclude the bargain. There is so much of this note correspondence
carried on in Angola, that a very large quantity of paper
is annually consumed. Some other peculiarities of our guide
were not so pleasing. A land of slaves is a bad school for even the free;
and I was sorry to find less truthfulness and honesty in him
than in my own people. We were often cheated through his connivance with
the sellers of food, and could perceive that he got a share of the plunder
from them. The food is very cheap, but it was generally made dear enough,
until I refused to allow him to come near the place where we were bargaining.
But he took us safely down to Ambaca, and I was glad to see,
on my return to Cassange, that he was promoted to be sergeant-major
of a company of militia.

Having left Cassange on the 21st, we passed across the remaining portion
of this excessively fertile valley to the foot of Tala Mungongo.
We crossed a fine little stream called the Lui on the 22d, and another
named the Luare on the 24th, then slept at the bottom of the height,
which is from a thousand to fifteen hundred feet. The clouds came floating
along the valley, and broke against the sides of the ascent,
and the dripping rain on the tall grass made the slaps in the face it gave,
when the hand or a stick was not held up before it, any thing but agreeable.
This edge of the valley is exactly like the other; jutting spurs and defiles
give the red ascent the same serrated appearance as that which we descended
from the highlands of Londa. The whole of this vast valley
has been removed by denudation, for pieces of the plateau
which once filled the now vacant space stand in it, and present
the same structure of red horizontal strata of equal altitudes
with those of the acclivity which we are now about to ascend.
One of these insulated masses, named Kasala, bore E.S.E. from the place
where we made our exit from the valley, and about ten miles W.S.W.
from the village of Cassange. It is remarkable for its perpendicular sides;
even the natives find it extremely difficult, almost impossible, to reach
its summit, though there is the temptation of marabou-nests and feathers,
which are highly prized. There is a small lake reported to exist
on its southern end, and, during the rainy season, a sort of natural moat
is formed around the bottom. What an acquisition this would have been
in feudal times in England! There is land sufficient
for considerable cultivation on the top, with almost perpendicular sides
more than a thousand feet in height.

We had not yet got a clear idea of the nature of Tala Mungongo.
A gentleman of Cassange described it as a range of very high mountains,
which it would take four hours to climb; so, though the rain and grass
had wetted us miserably, and I was suffering from an attack of fever
got while observing by night for the position of Cassange,
I eagerly commenced the ascent. The path was steep and slippery;
deep gorges appear on each side of it, leaving but a narrow path along
certain spurs of the sierra for the traveler; but we accomplished the ascent
in an hour, and when there, found we had just got on to a table-land
similar to that we had left before we entered the great Quango valley.
We had come among lofty trees again. One of these, bearing a fruit
about the size of a thirty-two pounder, is named Mononga-zambi.

We took a glance back to this valley, which equals that of the Mississippi
in fertility, and thought of the vast mass of material which had been
scooped out and carried away in its formation. This naturally
led to reflection on the countless ages required for the previous
formation and deposition of that same material (clay shale),
then of the rocks, whose abrasion formed THAT, until the mind grew giddy
in attempting to ascend the steps which lead up through
a portion of the eternity before man. The different epochs of geology
are like landmarks in that otherwise shoreless sea. Our own epoch,
or creation, is but another added to the number of that wonderful series
which presents a grand display of the mighty power of God:
every stage of progress in the earth and its habitants is such a display.
So far from this science having any tendency to make men undervalue
the power or love of God, it leads to the probability
that the exhibition of mercy we have in the gift of his Son
may possibly not be the only manifestation of grace which has taken place
in the countless ages during which works of creation have been going on.

Situated a few miles from the edge of the descent, we found
the village of Tala Mungongo, and were kindly accommodated with
a house to sleep in, which was very welcome, as we were all both wet and cold.
We found that the greater altitude and the approach of winter
lowered the temperature so much that many of my men suffered severely
from colds. At this, as at several other Portuguese stations,
they have been provident enough to erect travelers' houses
on the same principle as khans or caravanserais of the East.
They are built of the usual wattle and daub, and have benches of rods
for the wayfarer to make his bed on; also chairs, and a table,
and a large jar of water. These benches, though far from luxurious couches,
were better than the ground under the rotten fragments of my gipsy-tent,
for we had still showers occasionally, and the dews were very heavy.
I continued to use them for the sake of the shelter they afforded,
until I found that they were lodgings also for certain
inconvenient bedfellows.

27TH. Five hours' ride through a pleasant country of forest and meadow,
like those of Londa, brought us to a village of Basongo, a tribe living
in subjection to the Portuguese. We crossed several little streams,
which were flowing in the westerly direction in which we were marching,
and unite to form the Quize, a feeder of the Coanza. The Basongo
were very civil, as indeed all the tribes were who had been conquered
by the Portuguese. The Basongo and Bangala are yet only partially subdued.
The farther west we go from this, the less independent we find
the black population, until we reach the vicinity of Loanda,
where the free natives are nearly identical in their feelings
toward the government with the slaves. But the governors of Angola
wisely accept the limited allegiance and tribute rendered
by the more distant tribes as better than none.

All the inhabitants of this region, as well as those of Londa,
may be called true negroes, if the limitations formerly made be borne in mind.
The dark color, thick lips, heads elongated backward and upward and covered
with wool, flat noses, with other negro peculiarities, are general; but,
while these characteristics place them in the true negro family, the reader
would imbibe a wrong idea if he supposed that all these features combined
are often met with in one individual. All have a certain
thickness and prominence of lip, but many are met with in every village
in whom thickness and projection are not more marked than in Europeans.
All are dark, but the color is shaded off in different individuals
from deep black to light yellow. As we go westward, we observe
the light color predominating over the dark, and then again,
when we come within the influence of damp from the sea air,
we find the shade deepen into the general blackness of the coast population.
The shape of the head, with its woolly crop, though general, is not universal.
The tribes on the eastern side of the continent, as the Caffres,
have heads finely developed and strongly European. Instances of this kind
are frequently seen, and after I became so familiar with the dark color
as to forget it in viewing the countenance, I was struck by
the strong resemblance some natives bore to certain of our own notabilities.
The Bushmen and Hottentots are exceptions to these remarks,
for both the shape of their heads and growth of wool are peculiar; the latter,
for instance, springs from the scalp in tufts with bare spaces between,
and when the crop is short, resembles a number of black pepper-corns
stuck on the skin, and very unlike the thick frizzly masses
which cover the heads of the Balonda and Maravi. With every disposition
to pay due deference to the opinions of those who have made ethnology
their special study, I have felt myself unable to believe
that the exaggerated features usually put forth as those of the typical negro
characterize the majority of any nation of south Central Africa.
The monuments of the ancient Egyptians seem to me to embody the ideal
of the inhabitants of Londa better than the figures of any work of ethnology
I have met with.

Passing through a fine, fertile, and well-peopled country to Sanza,
we found the Quize River again touching our path, and here we had the pleasure
of seeing a field of wheat growing luxuriantly without irrigation.
The ears were upward of four inches long, an object of great curiosity
to my companions, because they had tasted my bread at Linyanti,
but had never before seen wheat growing. This small field was cultivated
by Mr. Miland, an agreeable Portuguese merchant. His garden was interesting,
as showing what the land at this elevation is capable of yielding;
for, besides wheat, we saw European vegetables in a flourishing condition,
and we afterward discovered that the coffee-plant has propagated itself
on certain spots of this same district. It may be seen
on the heights of Tala Mungongo, or nearly 300 miles from the west coast,
where it was first introduced by the Jesuit missionaries.

We spent Sunday, the 30th of April, at Ngio, close to the ford of the Quize
as it crosses our path to fall into the Coanza. The country becomes
more open, but is still abundantly fertile, with a thick crop of grass
between two and three feet high. It is also well wooded and watered.
Villages of Basongo are dotted over the landscape, and frequently
a square house of wattle and daub, belonging to native Portuguese,
is placed beside them for the purposes of trade. The people here
possess both cattle and pigs. The different sleeping-places on our path,
from eight to ten miles apart, are marked by a cluster of sheds
made of sticks and grass. There is a constant stream of people
going and returning to and from the coast. The goods are carried
on the head, or on one shoulder, in a sort of basket
attached to the extremities of two poles between five and six feet long,
and called Motete. When the basket is placed on the head,
the poles project forward horizontally, and when the carrier wishes
to rest himself, he plants them on the ground and the burden against a tree,
so he is not obliged to lift it up from the ground to the level of the head.
It stands against the tree propped up by the poles at that level.
The carrier frequently plants the poles on the ground, and stands
holding the burden until he has taken breath, thus avoiding the trouble
of placing the burden on the ground and lifting it up again.

When a company of these carriers, or our own party, arrives at
one of these sleeping-places, immediate possession is taken of the sheds.
Those who come late, and find all occupied, must then erect others
for themselves; but this is not difficult, for there is no lack of long grass.
No sooner do any strangers appear at the spot, than the women may be seen
emerging from their villages bearing baskets of manioc-meal,
roots, ground-nuts, yams, bird's-eye pepper, and garlic for sale.
Calico, of which we had brought some from Cassange, is the chief
medium of exchange. We found them all civil, and it was evident,
from the amount of talking and laughing in bargaining,
that the ladies enjoyed their occupation. They must cultivate largely,
in order to be able to supply the constant succession of strangers.
Those, however, near to the great line of road, purchase also much of the food
from the more distant villages for the sake of gain.

Pitsane and another of the men had violent attacks of fever,
and it was no wonder, for the dampness and evaporation from the ground
was excessive. When at any time I attempted to get an observation of a star,
if the trough of mercury were placed on the ground, so much moisture
was condensed on the inside of the glass roof over it
that it was with difficulty the reflection of the star could be seen.
When the trough was placed on a box to prevent the moisture entering
from below, so much dew was deposited on the outside of the roof
that it was soon necessary, for the sake of distinct vision,
to wipe the glass. This would not have been of great consequence,
but a short exposure to this dew was so sure to bring on a fresh fever,
that I was obliged to give up observations by night altogether.
The inside of the only covering I now had was not much better,
but under the blanket one is not so liable to the chill
which the dew produces.

It would have afforded me pleasure to have cultivated
a more intimate acquaintance with the inhabitants of this part of the country,
but the vertigo produced by frequent fevers made it as much as I could do
to stick on the ox and crawl along in misery. In crossing the Lombe,
my ox Sinbad, in the indulgence of his propensity to strike out a new path
for himself, plunged overhead into a deep hole, and so soused me
that I was obliged to move on to dry my clothing, without calling
on the Europeans who live on the bank. This I regretted,
for all the Portuguese were very kind, and, like the Boers
placed in similar circumstances, feel it a slight to be passed
without a word of salutation. But we went on to a spot
where orange-trees had been planted by the natives themselves,
and where abundance of that refreshing fruit was exposed for sale.

On entering the district of Ambaca, we found the landscape enlivened
by the appearance of lofty mountains in the distance,
the grass comparatively short, and the whole country at this time
looking gay and verdant. On our left we saw certain rocks of the same nature
with those of Pungo Andongo, and which closely resemble the Stonehenge group
on Salisbury Plain, only the stone pillars here are of gigantic size.
This region is all wonderfully fertile, famed for raising cattle,
and all kinds of agricultural produce, at a cheap rate. The soil contains
sufficient ferruginous matter, to impart a red tinge to nearly
the whole of it. It is supplied with a great number of little flowing streams
which unite in the Lucalla. This river drains Ambaca,
then falls into the Coanza to the southwest at Massangano.
We crossed the Lucalla by means of a large canoe kept there by a man
who farms the ferry from the government, and charges about a penny per head.
A few miles beyond the Lucalla we came to the village of Ambaca,
an important place in former times, but now a mere paltry village,
beautifully situated on a little elevation in a plain surrounded on all hands
by lofty mountains. It has a jail, and a good house for the commandant,
but neither fort nor church, though the ruins of a place of worship
are still standing.

We were most kindly received by the commandant of Ambaca, Arsenio de Carpo,
who spoke a little English. He recommended wine for my debility,
and here I took the first glass of that beverage I had taken in Africa.
I felt much refreshed, and could then realize and meditate on
the weakening effects of the fever. They were curious even to myself;
for, though I had tried several times since we left Ngio
to take lunar observations, I could not avoid confusion of time and distance,
neither could I hold the instrument steady, nor perform a simple calculation;
hence many of the positions of this part of the route were left till my return
from Loanda. Often, on getting up in the mornings, I found my clothing
as wet from perspiration as if it had been dipped in water.
In vain had I tried to learn or collect words of the Bunda, or dialect spoken
in Angola. I forgot the days of the week and the names of my companions,
and, had I been asked, I probably could not have told my own.
The complaint itself occupied many of my thoughts. One day I supposed that
I had got the true theory of it, and would certainly cure the next attack,
whether in myself or companions; but some new symptoms would appear,
and scatter all the fine speculations which had sprung up,
with extraordinary fertility, in one department of my brain.

This district is said to contain upward of 40,000 souls.
Some ten or twelve miles to the north of the village of Ambaca there once
stood the missionary station of Cahenda, and it is now quite astonishing
to observe the great numbers who can read and write in this district.
This is the fruit of the labors of the Jesuit and Capuchin missionaries,
for they taught the people of Ambaca; and ever since
the expulsion of the teachers by the Marquis of Pombal,
the natives have continued to teach each other. These devoted men
are still held in high estimation throughout the country to this day.
All speak well of them (os padres Jesuitas); and, now that they are gone
from this lower sphere, I could not help wishing that these
our Roman Catholic fellow-Christians had felt it to be their duty
to give the people the Bible, to be a light to their feet
when the good men themselves were gone.

When sleeping in the house of the commandant, an insect,
well known in the southern country by the name Tampan, bit my foot.
It is a kind of tick, and chooses by preference the parts
between the fingers or toes for inflicting its bite. It is seen
from the size of a pin's head to that of a pea, and is common
in all the native huts in this country. It sucks the blood until quite full,
and is then of a dark blue color, and its skin so tough and yielding
that it is impossible to burst it by any amount of squeezing with the fingers.
I had felt the effects of its bite in former years, and eschewed
all native huts ever after; but as I was here again assailed
in a European house, I shall detail the effects of the bite.
These are a tingling sensation of mingled pain and itching,
which commences ascending the limb until the poison imbibed
reaches the abdomen, where it soon causes violent vomiting and purging.
Where these effects do not follow, as we found afterward at Tete,
fever sets in; and I was assured by intelligent Portuguese there
that death has sometimes been the result of this fever.
The anxiety my friends at Tete manifested to keep my men
out of the reach of the tampans of the village made it evident
that they had seen cause to dread this insignificant insect.
The only inconvenience I afterward suffered from this bite
was the continuance of the tingling sensation in the point bitten
for about a week.

MAY 12TH. As we were about to start this morning, the commandant,
Senhor Arsenio, provided bread and meat most bountifully for my use
on the way to the next station, and sent two militia soldiers as guides,
instead of our Cassange corporal, who left us here. About midday
we asked for shelter from the sun in the house of Senhor Mellot, at Zangu,
and, though I was unable to sit and engage in conversation,
I found, on rising from his couch, that he had at once proceeded
to cook a fowl for my use; and at parting he gave me a glass of wine,
which prevented the violent fit of shivering I expected that afternoon.
The universal hospitality of the Portuguese was most gratifying,
as it was quite unexpected; and even now, as I copy my journal,
I remember it all with a glow of gratitude.

We spent Sunday, the 14th of May, at Cabinda, which is one of the stations
of the sub-commandants, who are placed at different points
in each district of Angola as assistants of the head-commandant, or chefe.
It is situated in a beautiful glen, and surrounded by plantations
of bananas and manioc. The country was gradually becoming more picturesque
the farther we proceeded west. The ranges of lofty blue mountains of Libollo,
which, in coming toward Ambaca, we had seen thirty or forty miles
to our south, were now shut from our view by others nearer at hand,
and the gray ranges of Cahenda and Kiwe, which, while we were in Ambaca,
stood clearly defined eight or ten miles off to the north, were now close
upon our right. As we looked back toward the open pastoral country of Ambaca,
the broad green gently undulating plains seemed in a hollow
surrounded on all sides by rugged mountains, and as we went westward
we were entering upon quite a wild-looking mountainous district,
called Golungo Alto.

We met numbers of Mambari on their way back to Bihe. Some of them
had belonged to the parties which had penetrated as far as Linyanti,
and foolishly showed their displeasure at the prospect of the Makololo
preferring to go to the coast markets themselves to intrusting them
with their ivory. The Mambari repeated the tale of the mode in which
the white men are said to trade. "The ivory is left on the shore
in the evening, and next morning the seller finds a quantity of goods
placed there in its stead by the white men who live in the sea."
"Now," added they to my men, "how can you Makololo trade with these `Mermen'?
Can you enter into the sea, and tell them to come ashore?"
It was remarkable to hear this idea repeated so near the sea as we now were.
My men replied that they only wanted to see for themselves;
and, as they were now getting some light on the nature of the trade
carried on by the Mambari, they were highly amused on perceiving
the reasons why the Mambari would rather have met them on the Zambesi
than so near the sea-coast.

There is something so exhilarating to one of Highland blood in being
near or on high mountains, that I forgot my fever as we wended our way among
the lofty tree-covered masses of mica schist which form the highlands around
the romantic residence of the chefe of Golungo Alto. (Lat. 9d 8' 30" S.,
long. 15d 2' E.)  The whole district is extremely beautiful.
The hills are all bedecked with trees of various hues of foliage,
and among them towers the graceful palm, which yields the oil of commerce
for making our soaps, and the intoxicating toddy. Some clusters of hills
look like the waves of the sea driven into a narrow open bay, and have assumed
the same form as if, when all were chopping up perpendicularly,
they had suddenly been congealed. The cottages of the natives,
perched on the tops of many of the hillocks, looked as if the owners
possessed an eye for the romantic, but they were probably influenced more
by the desire to overlook their gardens, and keep their families
out of the reach of the malaria, which is supposed to prevail most
on the banks of the numerous little streams which run among the hills.

We were most kindly received by the commandant, Lieutenant Antonio
Canto e Castro, a young gentleman whose whole subsequent conduct
will ever make me regard him with great affection. Like every other
person of intelligence whom I had met, he lamented deeply
the neglect with which this fine country has been treated.
This district contained by the last census 26,000 hearths or fires;
and if to each hearth we reckon four souls, we have a population of 104,000.
The number of carregadores (carriers) who may be ordered out
at the pleasure of government to convey merchandise to the coast
is in this district alone about 6000, yet there is no good road in existence.
This system of compulsory carriage of merchandise was adopted
in consequence of the increase in numbers and activity of our cruisers,
which took place in 1845. Each trader who went, previous to that year,
into the interior, in the pursuit of his calling, proceeded on the plan
of purchasing ivory and beeswax, and a sufficient number of slaves to carry
these commodities. The whole were intended for exportation as soon as
the trader reached the coast. But when the more stringent measures of 1845
came into operation, and rendered the exportation of slaves almost impossible,
there being no roads proper for the employment of wheel conveyances,
this new system of compulsory carriage of ivory and beeswax to the coast
was resorted to by the government of Loanda. A trader who requires
two or three hundred carriers to convey his merchandise to the coast
now applies to the general government for aid. An order is sent
to the commandant of a district to furnish the number required.
Each head man of the villages to whom the order is transmitted
must furnish from five to twenty or thirty men, according to the proportion
that his people bear to the entire population of the district.
For this accommodation the trader must pay a tax to the government
of 1000 reis, or about three shillings per load carried.
The trader is obliged to pay the carrier also the sum of 50 reis,
or about twopence a day, for his sustenance. And as a day's journey
is never more than from eight to ten miles, the expense which must be incurred
for this compulsory labor is felt to be heavy by those who were accustomed
to employ slave labor alone. Yet no effort has been made to form
a great line of road for wheel carriages. The first great want of a country
has not been attended to, and no development of its vast resources
has taken place. The fact, however, of a change from one system of carriage
to another, taken in connection with the great depreciation in
the price of slaves near this coast, proves the effectiveness of our efforts
at repressing the slave-trade on the ocean.

The latitude of Golungo Alto, as observed at the residence of the commandant,
was 9d 8' 30" S., longitude 15d 2' E. A few days' rest
with this excellent young man enabled me to regain much of my strength,
and I could look with pleasure on the luxuriant scenery before his door.
We were quite shut in among green hills, many of which were cultivated
up to their tops with manioc, coffee, cotton, ground-nuts, bananas,
pine-apples, guavas, papaws, custard-apples, pitangas, and jambos,
fruits brought from South America by the former missionaries. The high hills
all around, with towering palms on many points, made this spot appear
more like the Bay of Rio de Janeiro in miniature than any scene I ever saw;
and all who have seen that confess it to be unequaled in the world beside.
The fertility evident in every spot of this district was quite marvelous
to behold, but I shall reserve further notices of this region
till our return from Loanda.

We left Golungo Alto on the 24th of May, the winter in these parts.
Every evening clouds come rolling in great masses over the mountains
in the west, and pealing thunder accompanies the fall of rain during the night
or early in the morning. The clouds generally remain on the hills
till the morning is well spent, so that we become familiar with morning mists,
a thing we never once saw at Kolobeng. The thermometer stands at 80 Degrees
by day, but sinks as low as 76 Degrees by night.

In going westward we crossed several fine little gushing streams
which never dry. They unite in the Luinha (pronounced Lueenya) and Lucalla.
As they flow over many little cascades, they might easily be turned
to good account, but they are all allowed to run on idly to the ocean.
We passed through forests of gigantic timber, and at an open space
named Cambondo, about eight miles from Golungo Alto,
found numbers of carpenters converting these lofty trees into planks,
in exactly the same manner as was followed by the illustrious Robinson Crusoe.
A tree of three or four feet in diameter, and forty or fifty feet
up to the nearest branches, was felled. It was then cut
into lengths of a few feet, and split into thick junks, which again
were reduced to planks an inch thick by persevering labor with the axe.
The object of the carpenters was to make little chests,
and they drive a constant trade in them at Cambondo. When finished
with hinges, lock, and key, all of their own manufacture,
one costs only a shilling and eightpence. My men were so delighted with them
that they carried several of them on their heads all the way to Linyanti.

At Trombeta we were pleased to observe a great deal of taste
displayed by the sub-commandant in the laying out of his ground
and adornment of his house with flowers. This trifling incident
was the more pleasing, as it was the first attempt at neatness I had seen
since leaving the establishment of Mozinkwa in Londa. Rows of trees had been
planted along each side of the road, with pine-apples and flowers between.
This arrangement I had an opportunity of seeing in several other districts
of this country, for there is no difficulty in raising any plant or tree
if it is only kept from being choked by weeds.

This gentleman had now a fine estate, which but a few years ago was a forest,
and cost him only 16 Pounds. He had planted about 900 coffee-trees upon it,
and as these begin to yield in three years from being planted,
and in six attain their maximum, I have no doubt but that ere now
his 16 Pounds yields him sixty fold. All sorts of fruit-trees and grape-vines
yield their fruit twice in each year, without any labor or irrigation
being bestowed on them. All grains and vegetables, if only sown, do the same;
and if advantage is taken of the mists of winter, even three crops of pulse
may be raised. Cotton was now standing in the pods in his fields,
and he did not seem to care about it. I understood him to say
that this last plant flourishes, but the wet of one of the two rainy seasons
with which this country is favored sometimes proves troublesome to the grower.
I am not aware whether wheat has ever been tried, but I saw
both figs and grapes bearing well. The great complaint of all cultivators
is the want of a good road to carry their produce to market.
Here all kinds of food are remarkably cheap.

Farther on we left the mountainous country, and, as we descended toward
the west coast, saw the lands assuming a more sterile, uninviting aspect.
On our right ran the River Senza, which nearer the sea takes
the name of Bengo. It is about fifty yards broad, and navigable for canoes.
The low plains adjacent to its banks are protected from inundation
by embankments, and the population is entirely occupied
in raising food and fruits for exportation to Loanda by means of canoes.
The banks are infested by myriads of the most ferocious mosquitoes I ever met.
Not one of our party could get a snatch of sleep. I was taken into
the house of a Portuguese, but was soon glad to make my escape
and lie across the path on the lee side of the fire, where the smoke
blew over my body. My host wondered at my want of taste,
and I at his want of feeling; for, to our astonishment,
he and the other inhabitants had actually become used to what was at least
equal to a nail through the heel of one's boot, or the tooth-ache.

As we were now drawing near to the sea, my companions were
looking at every thing in a serious light. One of them asked me
if we should all have an opportunity of watching each other at Loanda.
"Suppose one went for water, would the others see if he were kidnapped?"
I replied, "I see what you are driving at; and if you suspect me,
you may return, for I am as ignorant of Loanda as you are;
but nothing will happen to you but what happens to myself.
We have stood by each other hitherto, and will do so to the last."
The plains adjacent to Loanda are somewhat elevated and comparatively sterile.
On coming across these we first beheld the sea: my companions looked upon
the boundless ocean with awe. On describing their feelings afterward,
they remarked that "we marched along with our father,
believing that what the ancients had always told us was true,
that the world has no end; but all at once the world said to us,
`I am finished; there is no more of me!'"  They had always imagined
that the world was one extended plain without limit.

They were now somewhat apprehensive of suffering want, and I was unable
to allay their fears with any promise of supply, for my own mind was depressed
by disease and care. The fever had induced a state of chronic dysentery,
so troublesome that I could not remain on the ox more than ten minutes
at a time; and as we came down the declivity above the city of Loanda
on the 31st of May, I was laboring under great depression of spirits,
as I understood that, in a population of twelve thousand souls,
there was but one genuine English gentleman. I naturally felt anxious to know
whether he were possessed of good-nature, or was one of those crusty mortals
one would rather not meet at all.

This gentleman, Mr. Gabriel, our commissioner for the suppression
of the slave-trade, had kindly forwarded an invitation to meet me
on the way from Cassange, but, unfortunately, it crossed me on the road.
When we entered his porch, I was delighted to see a number of flowers
cultivated carefully, and inferred from this circumstance that he was,
what I soon discovered him to be, a real whole-hearted Englishman.

Seeing me ill, he benevolently offered me his bed. Never shall I forget
the luxurious pleasure I enjoyed in feeling myself again
on a good English couch, after six months' sleeping on the ground.
I was soon asleep; and Mr. Gabriel, coming in almost immediately,
rejoiced at the soundness of my repose.

Chapter 20.

  Continued Sickness -- Kindness of the Bishop of Angola
  and her Majesty's Officers -- Mr. Gabriel's unwearied Hospitality --
  Serious Deportment of the Makololo -- They visit Ships of War --
  Politeness of the Officers and Men -- The Makololo attend Mass
  in the Cathedral -- Their Remarks -- Find Employment
  in collecting Firewood and unloading Coal -- Their superior Judgment
  respecting Goods -- Beneficial Influence of the Bishop of Angola --
  The City of St. Paul de Loanda -- The Harbor -- Custom-house --
  No English Merchants -- Sincerity of the Portuguese Government
  in suppressing the Slave-trade -- Convict Soldiers --
  Presents from Bishop and Merchants for Sekeletu -- Outfit -- Leave Loanda
  20th September, 1854 -- Accompanied by Mr. Gabriel as far as Icollo i Bengo
  -- Sugar Manufactory -- Geology of this part of the Country --
  Women spinning Cotton -- Its Price -- Native Weavers -- Market-places --
  Cazengo; its Coffee Plantations -- South American Trees --
  Ruins of Iron Foundry -- Native Miners -- The Banks of the Lucalla --
  Cottages with Stages -- Tobacco-plants -- Town of Massangano --
  Sugar and Rice -- Superior District for Cotton -- Portuguese Merchants
  and foreign Enterprise -- Ruins -- The Fort and its ancient Guns --
  Former Importance of Massangano -- Fires -- The Tribe Kisama --
  Peculiar Variety of Domestic Fowl -- Coffee Plantations --
  Return to Golungo Alto -- Self-complacency of the Makololo --
  Fever -- Jaundice -- Insanity.

In the hope that a short enjoyment of Mr. Gabriel's generous hospitality
would restore me to my wonted vigor, I continued under his roof;
but my complaint having been caused by long exposure to malarious influences,
I became much more reduced than ever, even while enjoying rest.
Several Portuguese gentlemen called on me shortly after my arrival;
and the Bishop of Angola, the Right Reverend Joaquim Moreira Reis,
then the acting governor of the province, sent his secretary to do the same,
and likewise to offer the services of the government physician.

Some of her majesty's cruisers soon came into the port, and,
seeing the emaciated condition to which I was reduced, offered to convey me
to St. Helena or homeward; but, though I had reached the coast,
I had found that, in consequence of the great amount of forest,
rivers, and marsh, there was no possibility of a highway for wagons,
and I had brought a party of Sekeletu's people with me,
and found the tribes near the Portuguese settlement so very unfriendly,
that it would be altogether impossible for my men to return alone.
I therefore resolved to decline the tempting offers of my naval friends,
and take back my Makololo companions to their chief,
with a view of trying to make a path from his country to the east coast
by means of the great river Zambesi or Leeambye.

I, however, gladly availed myself of the medical assistance of Mr. Cockin,
the surgeon of the "Polyphemus", at the suggestion of his commander,
Captain Phillips. Mr. Cockin's treatment, aided by the exhilarating presence
of the warm-hearted naval officers, and Mr. Gabriel's unwearied
hospitality and care, soon brought me round again. On the 14th
I was so far well as to call on the bishop, in company with my party,
who were arrayed in new robes of striped cotton cloth and red caps,
all presented to them by Mr. Gabriel. He received us,
as head of the provisional government, in the grand hall of the palace.
He put many intelligent questions respecting the Makololo,
and then gave them free permission to come to Loanda as often as they pleased.
This interview pleased the Makololo extremely.

Every one remarked the serious deportment of the Makololo. They viewed the
large stone houses and churches in the vicinity of the great ocean with awe.
A house with two stories was, until now, beyond their comprehension.
In explanation of this strange thing, I had always been obliged
to use the word for hut; and as huts are constructed by the poles being let
into the earth, they never could comprehend how the poles of one hut
could be founded upon the roof of another, or how men could live
in the upper story, with the conical roof of the lower one in the middle.
Some Makololo, who had visited my little house at Kolobeng,
in trying to describe it to their countrymen at Linyanti, said,
"It is not a hut; it is a mountain with several caves in it."

Commander Bedingfeld and Captain Skene invited them to visit their vessels,
the "Pluto" and "Philomel". Knowing their fears, I told them
that no one need go if he entertained the least suspicion of foul play.
Nearly the whole party went; and when on deck, I pointed to the sailors,
and said, "Now these are all my countrymen, sent by our queen for the purpose
of putting down the trade of those that buy and sell black men."
They replied, "Truly! they are just like you!" and all their fears
seemed to vanish at once, for they went forward among the men,
and the jolly tars, acting much as the Makololo would have done
in similar circumstances, handed them a share of the bread and beef
which they had for dinner. The commander allowed them to fire off a cannon;
and, having the most exalted ideas of its power, they were greatly pleased
when I told them, "That is what they put down the slave-trade with."
The size of the brig-of-war amazed them. "It is not a canoe at all;
it is a town!"  The sailors' deck they named "the Kotla";
and then, as a climax to their description of this great ark, added,
"And what sort of a town is it that you must climb up into with a rope?"

The effect of the politeness of the officers and men on their minds
was most beneficial. They had behaved with the greatest kindness to me
all the way from Linyanti, and I now rose rapidly in their estimation;
for, whatever they may have surmised before, they now saw that I was respected
among my own countrymen, and always afterward treated me
with the greatest deference.

On the 15th there was a procession and service of the mass in the Cathedral;
and, wishing to show my men a place of worship, I took them to the church,
which now serves as the chief one of the see of Angola and Congo.
There is an impression on some minds that a gorgeous ritual
is better calculated to inspire devotional feelings than the simple forms
of the Protestant worship. But here the frequent genuflexions,
changing of positions, burning of incense, with the priests' back turned
to the people, the laughing, talking, and manifest irreverence of the singers,
with firing of guns, etc., did not convey to the minds of my men
the idea of adoration. I overheard them, in talking to each other,
remark that "they had seen the white men charming their demons;"
a phrase identical with one they had used when seeing the Balonda
beating drums before their idols.

In the beginning of August I suffered a severe relapse, which reduced me
to a mere skeleton. I was then unable to attend to my men
for a considerable time; but when in convalescence from this last attack,
I was thankful to find that I was free from that lassitude which,
in my first recovery, showed the continuance of the malaria in the system.
I found that my men, without prompting, had established a brisk trade
in fire-wood. They sallied forth at cock-crowing in the mornings,
and by daylight reached the uncultivated parts of the adjacent country,
collected a bundle of fire-wood, and returned to the city.
It was then divided into smaller fagots, and sold to the inhabitants;
and as they gave larger quantities than the regular wood-carriers, they found
no difficulty in selling. A ship freighted with coal for the cruisers
having arrived from England, Mr. Gabriel procured them employment
in unloading her at sixpence a day. They continued at this work
for upward of a month, and nothing could exceed their astonishment
at the vast amount of cargo one ship contained. As they themselves
always afterward expressed it, they had labored every day
from sunrise to sunset for a moon and a half, unloading,
as quickly as they could, "stones that burn", and were tired out,
still leaving plenty in her. With the money so obtained they purchased
clothing, beads, and other articles to take back to their own country.
Their ideas of the value of different kinds of goods rather astonished
those who had dealt only with natives on the coast. Hearing it stated
with confidence that the Africans preferred the thinnest fabrics,
provided they had gaudy colors and a large extent of surface,
the idea was so new to my experience in the interior that I dissented,
and, in order to show the superior good sense of the Makololo,
took them to the shop of Mr. Schut. When he showed them
the amount of general goods which they might procure at Loanda
for a single tusk, I requested them, without assigning any reason,
to point out the fabrics they prized most. They all at once selected
the strongest pieces of English calico and other cloths,
showing that they had regard to strength without reference to color.
I believe that most of the Bechuana nation would have done the same.
But I was assured that the people near the coast, with whom the Portuguese
have to deal, have not so much regard to durability. This probably arises
from calico being the chief circulating medium; quantity being then
of more importance than quality.

During the period of my indisposition, the bishop sent frequently
to make inquiries, and, as soon as I was able to walk, I went to thank him
for his civilities. His whole conversation and conduct showed him to be
a man of great benevolence and kindness of heart. Alluding to
my being a Protestant, he stated that he was a Catholic from conviction;
and though sorry to see others, like myself, following another path,
he entertained no uncharitable feelings, nor would he ever sanction
persecuting measures. He compared the various sects of Christians,
in their way to heaven, to a number of individuals choosing to pass
down the different streets of Loanda to one of the churches --
all would arrive at the same point at last. His good influence,
both in the city and the country, is universally acknowledged:
he was promoting the establishment of schools, which, though formed
more on the monastic principle than Protestants might approve,
will no doubt be a blessing. He was likewise successfully attempting
to abolish the non-marriage custom of the country; and several marriages
had taken place in Loanda among those who, but for his teaching,
would have been content with concubinage.

St. Paul de Loanda has been a very considerable city, but is now
in a state of decay. It contains about twelve thousand inhabitants,
most of whom are people of color.*  There are various evidences
of its former magnificence, especially two cathedrals,
one of which, once a Jesuit college, is now converted into a workshop;
and in passing the other, we saw with sorrow a number of oxen
feeding within its stately walls. Three forts continue
in a good state of repair. Many large stone houses are to be found.
The palace of the governor and government offices are commodious structures,
but nearly all the houses of the native inhabitants are of wattle and daub.
Trees are planted all over the town for the sake of shade,
and the city presents an imposing appearance from the sea.
It is provided with an effective police, and the custom-house department
is extremely well managed. All parties agree in representing
the Portuguese authorities as both polite and obliging;
and if ever any inconvenience is felt by strangers visiting the port,
it must be considered the fault of the system, and not of the men.

--
* From the census of 1850-51 we find the population of this city
  arranged thus: 830 whites, only 160 of whom are females.
  This is the largest collection of whites in the country,
  for Angola itself contains only about 1000 whites.
  There are 2400 half-castes in Loanda, and only 120 of them slaves;
  and there are 9000 blacks, more than 5000 of whom are slaves.
--

The harbor is formed by the low, sandy island of Loanda, which is inhabited
by about 1300 souls, upward of 600 of whom are industrious native fishermen,
who supply the city with abundance of good fish daily. The space between it
and the main land, on which the city is built, is the station for ships.
When a high southwest wind blows, the waves of the ocean dash over
part of the island, and, driving large quantities of sand before them,
gradually fill up the harbor. Great quantities of soil
are also washed in the rainy season from the heights above the city,
so that the port, which once contained water sufficient to float
the largest ships close to the custom-house, is now at low water dry.
The ships are compelled to anchor about a mile north of their old station.
Nearly all the water consumed in Loanda is brought from the River Bengo
by means of launches, the only supply that the city affords
being from some deep wells of slightly brackish water.
Unsuccessful attempts have been made by different governors to finish a canal,
which the Dutch, while in possession of Loanda during the seven years
preceding 1648, had begun, to bring water from the River Coanza to the city.
There is not a single English merchant at Loanda, and only two American.
This is the more remarkable, as nearly all the commerce is carried on
by means of English calico brought hither via Lisbon.
Several English houses attempted to establish a trade about 1845,
and accepted bills on Rio de Janeiro in payment for their goods,
but the increased activity of our cruisers had such an effect
upon the mercantile houses of that city that most of them failed.
The English merchants lost all, and Loanda got a bad name
in the commercial world in consequence.

One of the arrangements of the custom-house may have had some influence
in preventing English trade. Ships coming here must be consigned to some one
on the spot; the consignee receives one hundred dollars per mast,
and he generally makes a great deal more for himself by putting a percentage
on boats and men hired for loading and unloading, and on every item
that passes through his hands. The port charges are also rendered heavy by
twenty dollars being charged as a perquisite of the secretary of government,
with a fee for the chief physician, something for the hospital,
custom-house officers, guards, etc., etc. But, with all these drawbacks,
the Americans carry on a brisk and profitable trade in calico, biscuit,
flour, butter, etc., etc.

The Portuguese home government has not generally received the credit
for sincerity in suppressing the slave-trade which I conceive to be its due.
In 1839, my friend Mr. Gabriel saw 37 slave-ships lying in this harbor,
waiting for their cargoes, under the protection of the guns of the forts.
At that time slavers had to wait many months at a time for a human freight,
and a certain sum per head was paid to the government
for all that were exported. The duties derived from the exportation of slaves
far exceeded those from other commerce, and, by agreeing to
the suppression of this profitable traffic, the government actually sacrificed
the chief part of the export revenue. Since that period, however,
the revenue from lawful commerce has very much exceeded that on slaves.
The intentions of the home Portuguese government, however good, can not be
fully carried out under the present system. The pay of the officers
is so very small that they are nearly all obliged to engage in trade;
and, owing to the lucrative nature of the slave-trade, the temptation
to engage in it is so powerful, that the philanthropic statesmen of Lisbon
need hardly expect to have their humane and enlightened views carried out.
The law, for instance, lately promulgated for the abolition
of the carrier system (carregadores) is but one of several
equally humane enactments against this mode of compulsory labor,
but there is very little probability of the benevolent intentions
of the Legislature being carried into effect.

Loanda is regarded somewhat as a penal settlement, and those who leave
their native land for this country do so with the hope of getting rich
in a few years, and then returning home. They have thus
no motive for seeking the permanent welfare of the country.
The Portuguese law preventing the subjects of any other nation
from holding landed property unless they become naturalized,
the country has neither the advantage of native nor foreign enterprise,
and remains very much in the same state as our allies found it in 1575.
Nearly all the European soldiers sent out are convicts,
and, contrary to what might be expected from men in their position,
behave remarkably well. A few riots have occurred, but nothing at all
so serious as have taken place in our own penal settlements.
It is a remarkable fact that the whole of the arms of Loanda
are every night in the hands of those who have been convicts.
Various reasons for this mild behavior are assigned by the officers,
but none of these, when viewed in connection with our own experience
in Australia, appear to be valid. Religion seems to have no connection
with the change. Perhaps the climate may have some influence in subduing
their turbulent disposition, for the inhabitants generally are a timid race;
they are not half so brave as our Caffres. The people of Ambriz
ran away like a flock of sheep, and allowed the Portuguese
to take possession of their copper mines and country without striking a blow.
If we must have convict settlements, attention to the climate
might be of advantage in the selection. Here even bulls are much tamer
than with us. I never met with a ferocious one in this country,
and the Portuguese use them generally for riding; an ox is seldom seen.

The objects which I had in view in opening up the country,
as stated in a few notes of my journey, published in the newspapers of Angola,
so commended themselves to the general government and merchants of Loanda,
that, at the instance of his excellency the bishop,
a handsome present for Sekeletu was granted by the Board of Public Works
(Junta da Fazenda Publica). It consisted of a colonel's complete uniform
and a horse for the chief, and suits of clothing for all the men
who accompanied me. The merchants also made a present,
by public subscription, of handsome specimens of all their articles of trade,
and two donkeys, for the purpose of introducing the breed into his country,
as tsetse can not kill this beast of burden. These presents were accompanied
by letters from the bishop and merchants; and I was kindly favored
with letters of recommendation to the Portuguese authorities
in Eastern Africa.

I took with me a good stock of cotton cloth, fresh supplies
of ammunition and beads, and gave each of my men a musket.
As my companions had amassed considerable quantities of goods,
they were unable to carry mine, but the bishop furnished me
with twenty carriers, and sent forward orders to all the commandants
of the districts through which we were to pass to render me every assistance
in their power. Being now supplied with a good new tent made by my friends
on board the Philomel, we left Loanda on the 20th of September, 1854,
and passed round by sea to the mouth of the River Bengo.
Ascending this river, we went through the district in which stand
the ruins of the convent of St. Antonio; thence into Icollo i Bengo,
which contains a population of 6530 blacks, 172 mulattoes, and 11 whites,
and is so named from having been the residence of a former native king.
The proportion of slaves is only 3.38 per cent. of the inhabitants.
The commandant of this place, Laurence Jose Marquis,
is a frank old soldier and a most hospitable man; he is one of the few
who secure the universal approbation of their fellow-men for stern,
unflinching honesty, and has risen from the ranks to be a major in the army.
We were accompanied thus far by our generous host, Edmund Gabriel, Esq., who,
by his unwearied attentions to myself, and liberality in supporting my men,
had become endeared to all our hearts. My men were strongly impressed
with a sense of his goodness, and often spoke of him in terms of admiration
all the way to Linyanti.

While here we visited a large sugar manufactory belonging to a lady,
Donna Anna da Sousa. The flat alluvial lands on the banks
of the Senza or Bengo are well adapted for raising sugar-cane,
and this lady had a surprising number of slaves, but somehow the establishment
was far from being in a flourishing condition. It presented such a contrast
to the free-labor establishments of the Mauritius, which I have since seen,
where, with not one tenth of the number of hands, or such good soil,
a man of color had, in one year, cleared 5000 Pounds by a single crop,
that I quote the fact, in hopes it may meet the eye of Donna Anna.

The water of the river is muddy, and it is observed that such rivers
have many more mosquitoes than those which have clear water.
It was remarked to us here that these insects are much more numerous
at the period of new moon than at other times; at any rate,
we were all thankful to get away from the Senza and its insect plagues.

The whole of this part of the country is composed of marly tufa,
containing the same kind of shells as those at present alive in the seas.
As we advanced eastward and ascended the higher lands, we found eruptive trap,
which had tilted up immense masses of mica and sandstone schists.
The mica schist almost always dipped toward the interior of the country,
forming those mountain ranges of which we have already spoken
as giving a highland character to the district of Golungo Alto.
The trap has frequently run through the gorges made in the upheaved rocks,
and at the points of junction between the igneous and older rocks
there are large quantities of strongly magnetic iron ore.
The clayey soil formed by the disintegration of the mica schist and trap
is the favorite soil for the coffee; and it is on these mountain sides,
and others possessing a similar red clay soil, that this plant
has propagated itself so widely. The meadow-lands adjacent to
the Senza and Coanza being underlaid by that marly tufa
which abounds toward the coast, and containing the same shells,
show that, previous to the elevation of that side of the country,
this region possessed some deeply-indented bays.

28TH SEPTEMBER, KALUNGWEMBO. --  We were still on the same path
by which we had come, and, there being no mosquitoes, we could now
better enjoy the scenery. Ranges of hills occupy both sides of our path,
and the fine level road is adorned with a beautiful red flower
named Bolcamaria. The markets or sleeping-places are well supplied
with provisions by great numbers of women, every one of whom
is seen spinning cotton with a spindle and distaff, exactly like those
which were in use among the ancient Egyptians. A woman is scarcely ever seen
going to the fields, though with a pot on her head, a child on her back,
and the hoe over her shoulder, but she is employed in this way.
The cotton was brought to the market for sale, and I bought a pound
for a penny. This was the price demanded, and probably double
what they ask from each other. We saw the cotton growing luxuriantly
all around the market-places from seeds dropped accidentally.
It is seen also about the native huts, and, so far as I could learn,
it was the American cotton, so influenced by climate as to be perennial.
We met in the road natives passing with bundles of cops,
or spindles full of cotton thread, and these they were carrying to other parts
to be woven into cloth. The women are the spinners, and the men
perform the weaving. Each web is about 5 feet long, and 15 or 18 inches wide.
The loom is of the simplest construction, being nothing but two beams
placed one over the other, the web standing perpendicularly.
The threads of the web are separated by means of a thin wooden lath,
and the woof passed through by means of the spindle on which
it has been wound in spinning.

The mode of spinning and weaving in Angola, and, indeed,
throughout South Central Africa, is so very like the same occupations
in the hands of the ancient Egyptians, that I introduce a woodcut
from the interesting work of Sir Gardner Wilkinson. The lower figures
are engaged in spinning in the real African method, and the weavers
in the left-hand corner have their web in the Angolese fashion.*

Numbers of other articles are brought for sale to these sleeping-places.
The native smiths there carry on their trade. I bought ten
very good table-knives, made of country iron, for twopence each.

Labor is extremely cheap, for I was assured that even carpenters, masons,
smiths, etc., might be hired for fourpence a day, and agriculturists
would gladly work for half that sum.*

--
* In order that the reader may understand the social position of the people
  of this country, I here give the census of the district of Golungo Alto
  for the year 1854, though the numbers are evidently not all furnished:

     238 householders or yeomen.
    4224 patrons, or head men of several hamlets.
      23 native chiefs or sovas.
     292 macotas or councilors.
    5838 carriers.
     126 carpenters.
      72 masons.
     300 shoemakers.
     181 potters.
      25 tailors.
      12 barbers.
     206 iron-founders.
     486 bellows-blowers.
     586 coke-makers.
     173 iron-miners.
     184 soldiers of militia.
    3603 privileged gentlemen, i.e., who may wear boots.
      18 vagabonds.
     717 old men.
      54 blind men and women.
      81 lame men and women.
     770 slave men.
     807 slave women.
    9578 free women.
     393 possessors of land.
     300 female gardeners.
     139 hunters of wild animals.
     980 smiths.
     314 mat-makers.
    4065 males under 7 years of age.
    6012 females under 7 years of age.

  These people possess 300 idol-houses, 600 sheep, 5000 goats, 500 oxen,
  398 gardens, 25,120 hearths. The authorities find great difficulty
  in getting the people to furnish a correct account of their numbers.
  This census is quoted merely for the purpose of giving
  a general idea of the employments of the inhabitants.

  The following is taken from the census of Icollo i Bengo,
  and is added for a similar reason:

    3232 living without the marriage tie. (All those who have
           not been married by a priest are so distinguished.)
       4 orphans -- 2 black and 2 white.
       9 native chiefs.
       2 carpenters.
      21 potters.
      11 tailors.
       2 shoemakers.
       3 barbers.
       5 mat-makers.
      12 sack-makers.
      21 basket-makers.

  The cattle in the district are: 10 asses, 401 oxen, 492 cows, 3933 sheep,
  1699 goats, 909 swine; and as an annual tax is levied of sixpence per head
  on all stock, it is probable that the returns are less than the reality.
--

Being anxious to obtain some more knowledge of this interesting country
and its ancient missionary establishments than the line of route
by which we had come afforded, I resolved to visit the town of Massangano,
which is situated to the south of Golungo Alto, and at the confluence
of the rivers Lucalla and Coanza. This led me to pass
through the district of Cazengo, which is rather famous
for the abundance and excellence of its coffee. Extensive coffee plantations
were found to exist on the sides of the several lofty mountains
that compose this district. They were not planted by the Portuguese.
The Jesuit and other missionaries are known to have brought
some of the fine old Mocha seed, and these have propagated themselves
far and wide; hence the excellence of the Angola coffee.
Some have asserted that, as new plantations were constantly discovered
even during the period of our visit, the coffee-tree was indigenous;
but the fact that pine-apples, bananas, yams, orange-trees,
custard apple-trees, pitangas, guavas, and other South American trees,
were found by me in the same localities with the recently-discovered coffee,
would seem to indicate that all foreign trees must have been introduced
by the same agency. It is known that the Jesuits also introduced
many other trees for the sake of their timber alone. Numbers of these
have spread over the country, some have probably died out,
and others failed to spread, like a lonely specimen which stands
in what was the Botanic Garden of Loanda, and, though most useful in yielding
a substitute for frankincense, is the only one of the kind in Africa.

A circumstance which would facilitate the extensive propagation of the coffee
on the proper clay soil is this: The seed, when buried beneath the soil,
generally dies, while that which is sown broadcast, with no covering
except the shade of the trees, vegetates readily. The agent in sowing
in this case is a bird, which eats the outer rind, and throws the kernel
on the ground. This plant can not bear the direct rays of the sun;
consequently, when a number of the trees are discovered in the forest,
all that is necessary is to clear away the brushwood,
and leave as many of the tall forest-trees as will afford good shade
to the coffee-plants below. The fortunate discoverer has then
a flourishing coffee plantation.

This district, small though it be, having only a population of 13,822,
of whom ten only are white, nevertheless yields an annual tribute
to the government of thirteen hundred cotton cloths, each 5 feet
by 18 or 20 inches, of their own growth and manufacture.

Accompanied by the commandant of Cazengo, who was well acquainted
with this part of the country, I proceeded in a canoe down the River Lucalla
to Massangano. This river is about 85 yards wide, and navigable for canoes
from its confluence with the Coanza to about six miles above the point
where it receives the Luinha. Near this latter point
stand the strong, massive ruins of an iron foundry, erected in
the times (1768) and by the order of the famous Marquis of Pombal.
The whole of the buildings were constructed of stone, cemented with
oil and lime. The dam for water-power was made of the same materials,
and 27 feet high. This had been broken through by a flood,
and solid blocks, many yards in length, were carried down the stream,
affording an instructive example of the transporting power of water.
There was nothing in the appearance of the place to indicate unhealthiness;
but eight Spanish and Swedish workmen, being brought hither
for the purpose of instructing the natives in the art of smelting iron,
soon fell victims to disease and "irregularities". The effort of the marquis
to improve the mode of manufacturing iron was thus rendered abortive.
Labor and subsistence are, however, so very cheap that almost
any amount of work can be executed, at a cost that renders
expensive establishments unnecessary.

A party of native miners and smiths is still kept in the employment
of the government, who, working the rich black magnetic iron ore,
produce for the government from 480 to 500 bars of good malleable iron
every month. They are supported by the appropriation of a few thousands
of a small fresh-water fish, called "Cacusu", a portion of the tax levied upon
the fishermen of the Coanza. This fish is so much relished in the country
that those who do not wish to eat them can easily convert them into money.
The commandant of the district of Massangano, for instance,
has a right to a dish of three hundred every morning, as part of his salary.
Shell-fish are also found in the Coanza, and the "Peixemulher",
or woman-fish of the Portuguese, which is probably a Manatee.

The banks of the Lucalla are very pretty, well planted with orange-trees,
bananas, and the palm (`Elaeis Guineensis') which yields the oil of commerce.
Large plantations of maize, manioc, and tobacco are seen along both banks,
which are enlivened by the frequent appearance of native houses
imbosomed in dense shady groves, with little boys and girls
playing about them. The banks are steep, the water having cut out its bed
in dark red alluvial soil. Before every cottage a small stage is erected,
to which the inhabitants may descend to draw water without danger
from the alligators. Some have a little palisade made in the water for safety
from these reptiles, and others use the shell of the fruit of the baobab-tree
attached to a pole about ten feet long, with which, while standing
on the high bank, they may draw water without fear of accident.

Many climbing plants run up the lofty silk, cotton, and baobab trees,
and hang their beautiful flowers in gay festoons on the branches.
As we approach Massangano, the land on both banks of the Lucalla becomes
very level, and large portions are left marshy after the annual floods;
but all is very fertile. As an illustration of the strength of the soil,
I may state that we saw tobacco-plants in gardens near the confluence
eight feet high, and each plant had thirty-six leaves,
which were eighteen inches long by six or eight inches broad.
But it is not a pastoral district. In our descent we observed the tsetse,
and consequently the people had no domestic animals save goats.

We found the town of Massangano on a tongue of rather high land,
formed by the left bank of the Lucalla and right bank of the Coanza,
and received true Portuguese hospitality from Senhor Lubata.
The town has more than a thousand inhabitants; the district has 28,063,
with only 315 slaves. It stands on a mound of calcareous tufa,
containing great numbers of fossil shells, the most recent of which
resemble those found in the marly tufa close to the coast.
The fort stands on the south side of the town, on a high perpendicular bank
overhanging the Coanza. This river is here a noble stream,
about a hundred and fifty yards wide, admitting navigation in large canoes
from the bar at its mouth to Cambambe, some thirty miles above this town.
There, a fine waterfall hinders farther ascent. Ten or twelve large canoes
laden with country produce pass Massangano every day. Four galleons
were constructed here as long ago as 1650, which must have been of good size,
for they crossed the ocean to Rio Janeiro.

Massangano district is well adapted for sugar and rice, while Cambambe
is a very superior field for cotton; but the bar at the mouth of the Coanza
would prevent the approach of a steamer into this desirable region,
though a small one could ply on it with ease when once in. It is probable
that the objects of those who attempted to make a canal from Calumbo to Loanda
were not merely to supply that city with fresh water,
but to afford facilities for transportation. The remains of the canal
show it to have been made on a scale suited for the Coanza canoes.
The Portuguese began another on a smaller scale in 1811,
and, after three years' labor, had finished only 6000 yards.
Nothing great or useful will ever be effected here so long as men come
merely to get rich, and then return to Portugal.

The latitude of the town and fort of Massangano is 9d 37' 46" S., being nearly
the same as that of Cassange. The country between Loanda and this point
being comparatively flat, a railroad might be constructed at small expense.
The level country is prolonged along the north bank of the Coanza
to the edge of the Cassange basin, and a railway carried thither
would be convenient for the transport of the products of the rich districts
of Cassange, Pungo Andongo, Ambaca, Cambambe, Golungo Alto, Cazengo,
Muchima, and Calumbo; in a word, the whole of Angola and independent tribes
adjacent to this kingdom.

The Portuguese merchants generally look to foreign enterprise
and to their own government for the means by which this amelioration
might be effected; but, as I always stated to them when conversing
on the subject, foreign capitalists would never run the risk,
unless they saw the Angolese doing something for themselves,
and the laws so altered that the subjects of other nations
should enjoy the same privileges in the country with themselves.
The government of Portugal has indeed shown a wise and liberal policy
by its permission for the alienation of the crown lands in Angola;
but the law giving it effect is so fenced round with limitations,
and so deluged with verbiage, that to plain people it seems
any thing but a straightforward license to foreigners to become
`bona fide' landholders and cultivators of the soil. At present
the tolls paid on the different lines of roads for ferries and bridges
are equal to the interest of large sums of money, though but a small amount
has been expended in making available roads.

There are two churches and a hospital in ruins at Massangano;
and the remains of two convents are pointed out, one of which
is said to have been an establishment of black Benedictines,
which, if successful, considering the materials the brethren had to work on,
must have been a laborious undertaking. There is neither
priest nor schoolmaster in the town, but I was pleased to observe
a number of children taught by one of the inhabitants.
The cultivated lands attached to all these conventual establishments in Angola
are now rented by the government of Loanda, and thither the bishop
lately removed all the gold and silver vessels belonging to them.

The fort of Massangano is small, but in good repair; it contains
some very ancient guns, which were loaded from the breech, and must have been
formidable weapons in their time. The natives of this country
entertain a remarkable dread of great guns, and this tends much
to the permanence of the Portuguese authority. They dread a cannon greatly,
though the carriage be so rotten that it would fall to pieces
at the first shot; the fort of Pungo Andongo is kept securely
by cannon perched on cross sticks alone!

Massangano was a very important town at the time the Dutch held
forcible possession of Loanda and part of Angola; but when, in the year 1648,
the Dutch were expelled from this country by a small body of Portuguese,
under the Governor Salvador Correa de Sa Benevides, Massangano was left
to sink into its present decay. Since it was partially abandoned
by the Portuguese, several baobab-trees have sprung up and attained
a diameter of eighteen or twenty inches, and are about twenty feet high.
No certain conclusion can be drawn from these instances, as it is not known
at what time after 1648 they began to grow; but their present size shows
that their growth is not unusually slow.

Several fires occurred during our stay, by the thatch having,
through long exposure to a torrid sun, become like tinder.
The roofs became ignited without any visible cause except
the intense solar rays, and excited terror in the minds of the inhabitants,
as the slightest spark carried by the wind would have set the whole town
in a blaze. There is not a single inscription on stone visible in Massangano.
If destroyed to-morrow, no one could tell where it and most Portuguese
interior villages stood, any more than we can do those of the Balonda.

During the occupation of this town the Coanza was used
for the purpose of navigation, but their vessels were so frequently plundered
by their Dutch neighbors that, when they regained the good port of Loanda,
they no longer made use of the river. We remained here four days,
in hopes of obtaining an observation for the longitude,
but at this season of the year the sky is almost constantly overcast
by a thick canopy of clouds of a milk-and-water hue; this continues
until the rainy season (which was now close at hand) commences.

The lands on the north side of the Coanza belong to the Quisamas (Kisamas),
an independent tribe, which the Portuguese have not been able to subdue.
The few who came under my observation possessed much of the Bushman
or Hottentot feature, and were dressed in strips of soft bark
hanging from the waist to the knee. They deal largely in salt,
which their country produces in great abundance. It is brought
in crystals of about 12 inches long and 1-1/2 in diameter.
This is hawked about every where in Angola, and, next to calico,
is the most common medium of barter. The Kisama are brave;
and when the Portuguese army followed them into their forests,
they reduced the invaders to extremity by tapping all the reservoirs of water,
which were no other than the enormous baobabs of the country hollowed
into cisterns. As the Kisama country is ill supplied with water otherwise,
the Portuguese were soon obliged to retreat. Their country, lying near
to Massangano, is low and marshy, but becomes more elevated in the distance,
and beyond them lie the lofty dark mountain ranges of the Libollo,
another powerful and independent people. Near Massangano I observed
what seemed to be an effort of nature to furnish a variety of domestic fowls,
more capable than the common kind of bearing the heat of the sun.
This was a hen and chickens with all their feathers curled upward,
thus giving shade to the body without increasing the heat.
They are here named "Kisafu" by the native population,
who pay a high price for them when they wish to offer them as a sacrifice,
and by the Portuguese they are termed "Arripiada", or shivering.
There seems to be a tendency in nature to afford varieties
adapted to the convenience of man. A kind of very short-legged fowl
among the Boers was obtained, in consequence of observing that
such were more easily caught for transportation in their frequent removals
in search of pasture. A similar instance of securing a variety
occurred with the short-limbed sheep in America.

Returning by ascending the Lucalla into Cazengo, we had
an opportunity of visiting several flourishing coffee plantations,
and observed that several men, who had begun with no capital
but honest industry, had, in the course of a few years,
acquired a comfortable subsistence. One of these, Mr. Pinto,
generously furnished me with a good supply of his excellent coffee,
and my men with a breed of rabbits to carry to their own country.
Their lands, granted by government, yielded, without much labor,
coffee sufficient for all the necessaries of life.

The fact of other avenues of wealth opening up so readily
seems like a providential invitation to forsake the slave-trade
and engage in lawful commerce. We saw the female population occupied,
as usual, in the spinning of cotton and cultivation of their lands.
Their only instrument for culture is a double-handled hoe, which is worked
with a sort of dragging motion. Many of the men were employed in weaving.
The latter appear to be less industrious than the former, for they require
a month to finish a single web. There is, however, not much inducement
to industry, for, notwithstanding the time consumed in its manufacture,
each web is sold for only two shillings.

On returning to Golungo Alto I found several of my men laid up with fever.
One of the reasons for my leaving them there was that they might recover
from the fatigue of the journey from Loanda, which had much more effect
upon their feet than hundreds of miles had on our way westward.
They had always been accustomed to moisture in their own well-watered land,
and we certainly had a superabundance of that in Loanda. The roads, however,
from Loanda to Golungo Alto were both hard and dry, and they suffered severely
in consequence; yet they were composing songs to be sung
when they should reach home. The Argonauts were nothing to them;
and they remarked very impressively to me, "It was well you came
with Makololo, for no tribe could have done what we have accomplished
in coming to the white man's country: we are the true ancients, who can tell
wonderful things."  Two of them now had fever in the continued form,
and became jaundiced, the whites or conjunctival membrane of their eyes
becoming as yellow as saffron; and a third suffered from an attack of mania.
He came to his companions one day, and said, "Remain well.
I am called away by the gods!" and set off at the top of his speed.
The young men caught him before he had gone a mile, and bound him.
By gentle treatment and watching for a few days he recovered. I have observed
several instances of this kind in the country, but very few cases of idiocy,
and I believe that continued insanity is rare.

Chapter 21.

  Visit a deserted Convent -- Favorable Report of Jesuits and their Teaching
  -- Gradations of native Society -- Punishment of Thieves --
  Palm-toddy; its baneful Effects -- Freemasons -- Marriages and Funerals --
  Litigation -- Mr. Canto's Illness -- Bad Behavior of his Slaves --
  An Entertainment -- Ideas on Free Labor -- Loss of American Cotton-seed --
  Abundance of Cotton in the country -- Sickness of Sekeletu's Horse --
  Eclipse of the Sun -- Insects which distill Water --
  Experiments with them -- Proceed to Ambaca -- Sickly Season --
  Office of Commandant -- Punishment of official Delinquents --
  Present from Mr. Schut of Loanda -- Visit Pungo Andongo --
  Its good Pasturage, Grain, Fruit, etc. -- The Fort and columnar Rocks --
  The Queen of Jinga -- Salubrity of Pungo Andongo -- Price of a Slave --
  A Merchant-prince -- His Hospitality -- Hear of the Loss of my Papers
  in "Forerunner" -- Narrow Escape from an Alligator --
  Ancient Burial-places -- Neglect of Agriculture in Angola --
  Manioc the staple Product -- Its Cheapness -- Sickness --
  Friendly Visit from a colored Priest -- The Prince of Congo --
  No Priests in the Interior of Angola.

While waiting for the recovery of my men, I visited, in company with
my friend Mr. Canto, the deserted convent of St. Hilarion,
at Bango, a few miles northwest of Golungo Alto. It is situated
in a magnificent valley, containing a population numbering 4000 hearths.
This is the abode of the Sova, or Chief Bango, who still holds
a place of authority under the Portuguese. The garden of the convent,
the church, and dormitories of the brethren are still kept
in a good state of repair. I looked at the furniture, couches,
and large chests for holding the provisions of the brotherhood with interest,
and would fain have learned something of the former occupants;
but all the books and sacred vessels had lately been removed to Loanda,
and even the graves of the good men stand without any record:
their resting-places are, however, carefully tended.
All speak well of the Jesuits and other missionaries, as the Capuchins, etc.,
for having attended diligently to the instruction of the children.
They were supposed to have a tendency to take the part of the people
against the government, and were supplanted by priests,
concerning whom no regret is expressed that they were allowed to die out.
In viewing the present fruits of former missions, it is impossible
not to feel assured that, if the Jesuit teaching has been so permanent,
that of Protestants, who leave the Bible in the hands of their converts,
will not be less abiding. The chief Bango has built a large two-story house
close by the convent, but superstitious fears prevent him from sleeping in it.
The Portuguese take advantage of all the gradations into which native society
has divided itself. This man, for instance, is still a sova or chief,
has his councilors, and maintains the same state as when the country
was independent. When any of his people are guilty of theft,
he pays down the amount of goods stolen at once, and reimburses himself
out of the property of the thief so effectually as to be benefited by
the transaction. The people under him are divided into a number of classes.
There are his councilors, as the highest, who are generally
head men of several villages, and the carriers, the lowest free men.
One class above the last obtains the privilege of wearing shoes
from the chief by paying for it; another, the soldiers or militia,
pay for the privilege of serving, the advantage being that
they are not afterward liable to be made carriers. They are also divided
into gentlemen and little gentlemen, and, though quite black,
speak of themselves as white men, and of the others, who may not wear shoes,
as "blacks". The men of all these classes trust to their wives for food,
and spend most of their time in drinking the palm-toddy. This toddy
is the juice of the palm-oil-tree (`Elaeis Guineensis'), which, when tapped,
yields a sweet, clear liquid, not at all intoxicating while fresh, but,
when allowed to stand till the afternoon, causes inebriation and many crimes.
This toddy, called malova, is the bane of the country. Culprits are
continually brought before the commandants for assaults committed
through its influence. Men come up with deep gashes on their heads;
and one, who had burned his father's house, I saw making a profound bow
to Mr. Canto, and volunteering to explain why he did the deed.

There is also a sort of fraternity of freemasons, named Empacasseiros,
into which no one is admitted unless he is an expert hunter,
and can shoot well with the gun. They are distinguished
by a fillet of buffalo hide around their heads, and are employed as messengers
in all cases requiring express. They are very trustworthy, and,
when on active service, form the best native troops the Portuguese possess.
The militia are of no value as soldiers, but cost the country nothing,
being supported by their wives. Their duties are chiefly
to guard the residences of commandants, and to act as police.

The chief recreations of the natives of Angola are marriages and funerals.
When a young woman is about to be married, she is placed in a hut alone
and anointed with various unguents, and many incantations are employed
in order to secure good fortune and fruitfulness. Here, as almost every where
in the south, the height of good fortune is to bear sons.
They often leave a husband altogether if they have daughters only.
In their dances, when any one may wish to deride another,
in the accompanying song a line is introduced, "So and so has no children,
and never will get any."  She feels the insult so keenly
that it is not uncommon for her to rush away and commit suicide.
After some days the bride elect is taken to another hut,
and adorned with all the richest clothing and ornaments that the relatives
can either lend or borrow. She is then placed in a public situation,
saluted as a lady, and presents made by all her acquaintances are placed
around her. After this she is taken to the residence of her husband,
where she has a hut for herself, and becomes one of several wives,
for polygamy is general. Dancing, feasting, and drinking on such occasions
are prolonged for several days. In case of separation,
the woman returns to her father's family, and the husband receives back
what he gave for her. In nearly all cases a man gives a price for the wife,
and in cases of mulattoes, as much as 60 Pounds is often given
to the parents of the bride. This is one of the evils the bishop was trying
to remedy.

In cases of death the body is kept several days, and there is a grand
concourse of both sexes, with beating of drums, dances, and debauchery,
kept up with feasting, etc., according to the means of the relatives.
The great ambition of many of the blacks of Angola is to give their friends
an expensive funeral. Often, when one is asked to sell a pig,
he replies, "I am keeping it in case of the death of any of my friends."
A pig is usually slaughtered and eaten on the last day of the ceremonies,
and its head thrown into the nearest stream or river.
A native will sometimes appear intoxicated on these occasions,
and, if blamed for his intemperance, will reply, "Why! my mother is dead!"
as if he thought it a sufficient justification. The expenses of funerals
are so heavy that often years elapse before they can defray them.

These people are said to be very litigious and obstinate:
constant disputes are taking place respecting their lands.
A case came before the weekly court of the commandant involving property
in a palm-tree worth twopence. The judge advised the pursuer
to withdraw the case, as the mere expenses of entering it
would be much more than the cost of the tree. "Oh no," said he;
"I have a piece of calico with me for the clerk, and money for yourself.
It's my right; I will not forego it."  The calico itself
cost three or four shillings. They rejoice if they can say of an enemy,
"I took him before the court."

My friend Mr. Canto, the commandant, being seized with fever in a severe form,
it afforded me much pleasure to attend HIM in his sickness,
who had been so kind to ME in mine. He was for some time
in a state of insensibility, and I, having the charge of his establishment,
had thus an opportunity of observing the workings of slavery.
When a master is ill, the slaves run riot among the eatables.
I did not know this until I observed that every time the sugar-basin
came to the table it was empty. On visiting my patient by night,
I passed along a corridor, and unexpectedly came upon the washerwoman
eating pine-apples and sugar. All the sweetmeats were devoured,
and it was difficult for me to get even bread and butter until I took
the precaution of locking the pantry door. Probably the slaves thought that,
as both they and the luxuries were the master's property,
there was no good reason why they should be kept apart.

Debarred by my precaution from these sources of enjoyment,
they took to killing the fowls and goats, and, when the animal was dead,
brought it to me, saying, "We found this thing lying out there."
They then enjoyed a feast of flesh. A feeling of insecurity
prevails throughout this country. It is quite common to furnish visitors
with the keys of their rooms. When called on to come to breakfast or dinner,
each locks his door and puts the key in his pocket. At Kolobeng
we never locked our doors by night or by day for months together;
but there slavery is unknown. The Portuguese do not seem at all bigoted
in their attachment to slavery, nor yet in their prejudices against color.
Mr. Canto gave an entertainment in order to draw all classes together
and promote general good-will. Two sovas or native chiefs were present,
and took their places without the least appearance of embarrassment.
The Sova of Kilombo appeared in the dress of a general, and the Sova of Bango
was gayly attired in a red coat, profusely ornamented with tinsel.
The latter had a band of musicians with him consisting of
six trumpeters and four drummers, who performed very well.
These men are fond of titles, and the Portuguese government humors them
by conferring honorary captaincies, etc.: the Sova of Bango
was at present anxious to obtain the title of "Major of all the Sovas".
At the tables of other gentlemen I observed the same thing
constantly occurring. At this meeting Mr. Canto communicated some ideas
which I had written out on the dignity of labor, and the superiority
of free over slave labor. The Portuguese gentlemen present
were anxiously expecting an arrival of American cotton-seed from Mr. Gabriel.
They are now in the transition state from unlawful to lawful trade,
and turn eagerly to cotton, coffee, and sugar as new sources of wealth.
Mr. Canto had been commissioned by them to purchase three sugar-mills.
Our cruisers have been the principal agents in compelling them
to abandon the slave-trade; and our government, in furnishing them
with a supply of cotton-seed, showed a generous intention to aid them
in commencing a more honorable course. It can scarcely be believed, however,
that after Lord Clarendon had been at the trouble of procuring
fresh cotton-seed through our minister at Washington, and had sent it out
to the care of H. M. Commissioner at Loanda, probably from having fallen
into the hands of a few incorrigible slave-traders, it never reached
its destination. It was most likely cast into the sea of Ambriz,
and my friends at Golungo Alto were left without the means of commencing
a new enterprise.

Mr. Canto mentioned that there is now much more cotton in the country
than can be consumed; and if he had possession of a few hundred pounds,
he would buy up all the oil and cotton at a fair price,
and thereby bring about a revolution in the agriculture of the country.
These commodities are not produced in greater quantity,
because the people have no market for those which now spring up
almost spontaneously around them. The above was put down in my journal
when I had no idea that enlarged supplies of cotton from new sources
were so much needed at home.

It is common to cut down cotton-trees as a nuisance, and cultivate beans,
potatoes, and manioc sufficient only for their own consumption.
I have the impression that cotton, which is deciduous in America,
is perennial here; for the plants I saw in winter were not dead,
though going by the name Algodao Americana, or American cotton.
The rents paid for gardens belonging to the old convents are merely nominal,
varying from one shilling to three pounds per annum. The higher rents
being realized from those in the immediate vicinity of Loanda,
none but Portuguese or half-castes can pay them.

When about to start, the horse which the governor had kindly presented
for Sekeletu was seized with inflammation, which delayed us some time longer,
and we ultimately lost it. We had been careful to watch it when coming
through the district of Matamba, where we had discovered the tsetse,
that no insect might light upon it. The change of diet here may have had
some influence in producing the disease; for I was informed by Dr. Welweitsch,
an able German naturalist, whom we found pursuing his arduous labors here,
and whose life we hope may be spared to give his researches to the world,
that, of fifty-eight kinds of grasses found at Loanda,
only three or four species exist here, and these of the most diminutive kinds.
The twenty-four different species of grass of Golungo Alto are
nearly all gigantic. Indeed, gigantic grasses, climbers, shrubs and trees,
with but few plants, constitute the vegetation of this region.

NOVEMBER 20TH. An eclipse of the sun, which I had anxiously
hoped to observe with a view of determining the longitude,
happened this morning, and, as often took place in this cloudy climate,
the sun was covered four minutes before it began. When it shone forth
the eclipse was in progress, and a few minutes before it should
(according to my calculations) have ended the sun was again
completely obscured. The greatest patience and perseverance are required,
if one wishes to ascertain his position when it is the rainy season.

Before leaving, I had an opportunity of observing a curious insect,
which inhabits trees of the fig family (`Ficus'), upward of twenty species
of which are found here. Seven or eight of them cluster round a spot
on one of the smaller branches, and there keep up a constant distillation
of a clear fluid, which, dropping to the ground, forms a little puddle below.
If a vessel is placed under them in the evening, it contains
three or four pints of fluid in the morning. The natives say that,
if a drop falls into the eyes, it causes inflammation of these organs.
To the question whence is this fluid derived, the people reply
that the insects suck it out of the tree, and our own naturalists
give the same answer. I have never seen an orifice,
and it is scarcely possible that the tree can yield so much.
A similar but much smaller homopterous insect, of the family `Cercopidae',
is known in England as the frog-hopper (`Aphrophora spumaria'),
when full grown and furnished with wings, but while still in the pupa state
it is called "Cuckoo-spit", from the mass of froth in which
it envelops itself. The circulation of sap in plants in our climate,
especially of the graminaceae, is not quick enough to yield much moisture.
The African species is five or six times the size of the English.
In the case of branches of the fig-tree, the point the insects congregate on
is soon marked by a number of incipient roots, such as are thrown out when
a cutting is inserted in the ground for the purpose of starting another tree.
I believe that both the English and African insects belong to the same family,
and differ only in size, and that the chief part of the moisture
is derived from the atmosphere. I leave it for naturalists to explain
how these little creatures distill both by night and day as much water
as they please, and are more independent than her majesty's steam-ships,
with their apparatus for condensing steam; for, without coal,
their abundant supplies of sea-water are of no avail. I tried
the following experiment: Finding a colony of these insects busily distilling
on a branch of the `Ricinus communis', or castor-oil plant,
I denuded about 20 inches of the bark on the tree side of the insects,
and scraped away the inner bark, so as to destroy all the ascending vessels.
I also cut a hole in the side of the branch, reaching to the middle,
and then cut out the pith and internal vessels. The distillation
was then going on at the rate of one drop each 67 seconds,
or about 2 ounces 5-1/2 drams in 24 hours. Next morning the distillation,
so far from being affected by the attempt to stop the supplies,
supposing they had come up through the branch from the tree,
was increased to a drop every 5 seconds, or 12 drops per minute,
making 1 pint (16 ounces) in every 24 hours. I then cut the branch
so much that, during the day, it broke; but they still went on
at the rate of a drop every 5 seconds, while another colony
on a branch of the same tree gave a drop every 17 seconds only,
or at the rate of about 10 ounces 4-4/5 drams in 24 hours.
I finally cut off the branch; but this was too much for their patience,
for they immediately decamped, as insects will do from either a dead branch
or a dead animal, which Indian hunters soon know, when they sit down
on a recently-killed bear. The presence of greater moisture in the air
increased the power of these distillers: the period of greatest activity
was in the morning, when the air and every thing else was charged with dew.

Having but one day left for experiment, I found again that another colony
on a branch denuded in the same way yielded a drop every 2 seconds,
or 4 pints 10 ounces in 24 hours, while a colony on a branch untouched
yielded a drop every 11 seconds, or 16 ounces 2-19/20 drams in 24 hours.
I regretted somewhat the want of time to institute another experiment,
namely, to cut a branch and place it in water, so as to keep it in life,
and then observe if there was any diminution of the quantity of water
in the vessel. This alone was wanting to make it certain
that they draw water from the atmosphere. I imagine that they have
some power of which we are not aware, besides that nervous influence
which causes constant motion to our own involuntary muscles,
the power of life-long action without fatigue. The reader will remember,
in connection with this insect, the case of the ants already mentioned.

DECEMBER 14TH. Both myself and men having recovered from
severe attacks of fever, we left the hospitable residence of Mr. Canto
with a deep sense of his kindness to us all, and proceeded on our way
to Ambaca. (Lat. 9d 16' 35" S., long. 15d 23' E.)

Frequent rains had fallen in October and November, which were nearly always
accompanied with thunder. Occasionally the quantity of moisture
in the atmosphere is greatly increased without any visible cause:
this imparts a sensation of considerable cold, though the thermometer
exhibits no fall of the mercury. The greater humidity in the air,
affording a better conducting medium for the radiation of heat from the body,
is as dangerous as a sudden fall of the thermometer: it causes considerable
disease among the natives, and this season is denominated "Carneirado",
as if by the disease they were slaughtered like sheep.
The season of these changes, which is the most favorable for Europeans,
is the most unhealthy for the native population; and this is by no means
a climate in which either natives or Europeans can indulge in irregularities
with impunity.

Owing to the weakness of the men who had been sick, we were able
to march but short distances. Three hours and a half brought us
to the banks of the Caloi, a small stream which flows into the Senza.
This is one of the parts of the country reputed to yield petroleum,
but the geological formation, being mica schist, dipping toward the eastward,
did not promise much for our finding it. Our hospitable friend, Mr. Mellot,
accompanied us to another little river, called the Quango,
where I saw two fine boys, the sons of the sub-commandant, Mr. Feltao,
who, though only from six to eight years old, were subject to fever.
We then passed on in the bright sunlight, the whole country
looking so fresh and green after the rains, and every thing so cheering,
one could not but wonder to find it so feverish.

We found, on reaching Ambaca, that the gallant old soldier,
Laurence Jose Marquis, had, since our passing Icollo i Bengo,
been promoted, on account of his stern integrity, to the government
of this important district. The office of commandant is much coveted
by the officers of the line who come to Angola, not so much for the salary
as for the perquisites, which, when managed skillfully,
in the course of a few years make one rich. An idea may be formed
of the conduct of some of these officials from the following extract
from the Boletin of Loanda of the 28th of October, 1854:

"The acting governor-general of the province of Angola and its dependencies
determines as follows:

"Having instituted an investigation (Syndecancia) against
the commandant of the fort of ----, a captain of the army of Portugal
in commission in this province, ----, on account of numerous complaints,
which have come before this government, of violences and extortions
practiced by the said commandant, and those complaints appearing
by the result of the investigation to be well founded, it will be convenient
to exonerate the captain referred to from the command of the fort of ----,
to which he had been nominated by the portfolio of this general government,
No. 41, of 27th December of the past year; and if not otherwise determined,
the same official shall be judged by a council of war for the criminal acts
which are to him attributed."

Even this public mention of his crimes attaches no stigma
to the man's character. The council of war, by which these delinquents
always prefer to be judged, is composed of men who eagerly expect
to occupy the post of commandant themselves, and anticipate their own trial
for similar acts at some future time. The severest sentence
a council of war awards is a few weeks' suspension from office
in his regiment.

This want of official integrity, which is not at all attributable
to the home government of Portugal, would prove a serious impediment in
the way of foreign enterprise developing the resources of this rich province.
And to this cause, indeed, may be ascribed the failure of the Portuguese laws
for the entire suppression of the slave-trade. The officers ought to receive
higher pay, if integrity is expected from them. At present,
a captain's pay for a year will only keep him in good uniform.
The high pay our own officers receive has manifest advantages.

Before leaving Ambaca we received a present of ten head of cattle
from Mr. Schut of Loanda, and, as it shows the cheapness of provisions here,
I may mention that the cost was only about a guinea per head.

On crossing the Lucalla we made a detour to the south, in order to visit
the famous rocks of Pungo Andongo. As soon as we crossed the rivulet Lotete,
a change in the vegetation of the country was apparent. We found trees
identical with those to be seen south of the Chobe. The grass, too,
stands in tufts, and is of that kind which the natives consider
to be best adapted for cattle. Two species of grape-bearing vines
abound every where in this district, and the influence of the good pasturage
is seen in the plump condition of the cattle. In all my previous inquiries
respecting the vegetable products of Angola, I was invariably directed
to Pungo Andongo. Do you grow wheat? "Oh, yes, in Pungo Andongo."
-- Grapes, figs, or peaches? "Oh, yes, in Pungo Andongo."
-- Do you make butter, cheese, etc.? The uniform answer was,
"Oh, yes, there is abundance of all these in Pungo Andongo."
But when we arrived here, we found that the answers all referred
to the activity of one man, Colonel Manuel Antonio Pires.
The presence of the wild grape shows that vineyards might be cultivated
with success; the wheat grows well without irrigation;
and any one who tasted the butter and cheese at the table of Colonel Pires
would prefer them to the stale produce of the Irish dairy, in general use
throughout that province. The cattle in this country are seldom milked,
on account of the strong prejudice which the Portuguese entertain
against the use of milk. They believe that it may be used with safety
in the morning, but, if taken after midday, that it will cause fever.
It seemed to me that there was not much reason for carefully avoiding
a few drops in their coffee, after having devoured ten times the amount
in the shape of cheese at dinner.

The fort of Pungo Andongo (lat. 9d 42' 14" S., long. 15d 30' E.)
is situated in the midst of a group of curious columnar-shaped rocks,
each of which is upward of three hundred feet in height. They are
composed of conglomerate, made up of a great variety of rounded pieces
in a matrix of dark red sandstone. They rest on a thick stratum
of this last rock, with very few of the pebbles in its substance.
On this a fossil palm has been found, and if of the same age as those
on the eastern side of the continent, on which similar palms now lie,
there may be coal underneath this, as well as under that at Tete.
The asserted existence of petroleum springs at Dande, and near Cambambe,
would seem to indicate the presence of this useful mineral,
though I am not aware of any one having actually seen a seam of coal
tilted up to the surface in Angola, as we have at Tete.
The gigantic pillars of Pungo Andongo have been formed by a current of the sea
coming from the S.S.E.; for, seen from the top, they appear arranged
in that direction, and must have withstood the surges of the ocean
at a period of our world's history, when the relations of land and sea
were totally different from what they are now, and long before
"the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy to see the abodes prepared which man was soon to fill."
The imbedded pieces in the conglomerate are of gneiss, clay shale,
mica and sandstone schists, trap, and porphyry, most of which
are large enough to give the whole the appearance of being the only remaining
vestiges of vast primaeval banks of shingle. Several little streams
run among these rocks, and in the central part of the pillars
stands the village, completely environed by well-nigh inaccessible rocks.
The pathways into the village might be defended by a small body of troops
against an army; and this place was long the stronghold of the tribe
called Jinga, the original possessors of the country.

We were shown a footprint carved on one of these rocks.
It is spoken of as that of a famous queen, who reigned over all this region.
In looking at these rude attempts at commemoration, one feels
the value of letters. In the history of Angola we find
that the famous queen Donna Anna de Souza came from the vicinity,
as embassadress from her brother, Gola Bandy, King of the Jinga,
to Loanda, in 1621, to sue for peace, and astonished the governor
by the readiness of her answers. The governor proposed,
as a condition of peace, the payment by the Jinga of an annual tribute.
"People talk of tribute after they have conquered, and not before it;
we come to talk of peace, not of subjection," was the ready answer.
The governor was as much nonplussed as our Cape governors often are
when they tell the Caffres "to put it all down in writing,
and they will then be able to answer them."  She remained some time in Loanda,
gained all she sought, and, after being taught by the missionaries,
was baptized, and returned to her own country with honor.
She succeeded to the kingdom on the death of her brother,
whom it was supposed she poisoned, but in a subsequent war with the Portuguese
she lost nearly all her army in a great battle fought in 1627.
She returned to the Church after a long period of apostasy,
and died in extreme old age; and the Jinga still live as an independent people
to the north of this their ancient country. No African tribe
has ever been destroyed.

In former times the Portuguese imagined that this place
was particularly unhealthy, and banishment to the black rocks of Pungo Andongo
was thought by their judges to be a much severer sentence
than transportation to any part of the coast; but this district
is now well known to be the most healthy part of Angola.
The water is remarkably pure, the soil is light, and the country
open and undulating, with a general slope down toward the River Coanza,
a few miles distant. That river is the southern boundary of the Portuguese,
and beyond, to the S. and S.W., we see the high mountains of the Libollo.
On the S.E. we have also a mountainous country, inhabited by
the Kimbonda or Ambonda, who are said by Colonel Pires to be
a very brave and independent people, but hospitable and fair
in their dealings. They are rich in cattle, and their country produces
much beeswax, which is carefully collected, and brought to the Portuguese,
with whom they have always been on good terms.

The Ako (Haco), a branch of this family, inhabit the left bank of the Coanza
above this village, who, instead of bringing slaves for sale, as formerly,
now occasionally bring wax for the purchase of a slave from the Portuguese.
I saw a boy sold for twelve shillings: he said that he belonged
to the country of Matiamvo. Here I bought a pair of well-made boots,
of good tanned leather, which reached above the knee, for five shillings
and eightpence, and that was just the price given for one pound of ivory
by Mr. Pires; consequently, the boy was worth two pairs of boots,
or two pounds of ivory. The Libollo on the S. have not so good a character,
but the Coanza is always deep enough to form a line of defense.
Colonel Pires is a good example of what an honest industrious man
in this country may become. He came as a servant in a ship,
and, by a long course of persevering labor, has raised himself to be
the richest merchant in Angola. He possesses some thousands of cattle;
and, on any emergency, can appear in the field with several hundred
armed slaves.

While enjoying the hospitality of this merchant-prince
in his commodious residence, which is outside the rocks,
and commands a beautiful view of all the adjacent country, I learned
that all my dispatches, maps, and journal had gone to the bottom of the sea
in the mail-packet "Forerunner". I felt so glad that my friend
Lieutenant Bedingfeld, to whose care I had committed them,
though in the most imminent danger, had not shared a similar fate,
that I was at once reconciled to the labor of rewriting. I availed myself
of the kindness of Colonel Pires, and remained till the end of the year
reproducing my lost papers.

Colonel Pires having another establishment on the banks of the Coanza,
about six miles distant, I visited it with him about once a week
for the purpose of recreation. The difference of temperature
caused by the lower altitude was seen in the cashew-trees;
for while, near the rocks, these trees were but coming into flower,
those at the lower station were ripening their fruit.
Cocoanut trees and bananas bear well at the lower station,
but yield little or no fruit at the upper. The difference indicated
by the thermometer was 7 Deg. The general range near the rocks
was 67 Deg. at 7 A.M., 74 Deg. at midday, and 72 Deg. in the evening.

A slave-boy belonging to Colonel Pires, having stolen and eaten some lemons
in the evening, went to the river to wash his mouth, so as not to be detected
by the flavor. An alligator seized him and carried him to an island
in the middle of the stream; there the boy grasped hold of the reeds,
and baffled all the efforts of the reptile to dislodge him,
till his companions, attracted by his cries, came in a canoe
to his assistance. The alligator at once let go his hold;
for, when out of his own element, he is cowardly. The boy had
many marks of the teeth in his abdomen and thigh, and those of the claws
on his legs and arms.

The slaves in Colonel Pires' establishments appeared more like free servants
than any I had elsewhere seen. Every thing was neat and clean,
while generally, where slaves are the only domestics,
there is an aspect of slovenliness, as if they went on the principle
of always doing as little for their masters as possible.

In the country near to this station were a large number of the ancient
burial-places of the Jinga. These are simply large mounds of stones,
with drinking and cooking vessels of rude pottery on them. Some are arranged
in a circular form, two or three yards in diameter, and shaped like a haycock.
There is not a single vestige of any inscription. The natives of Angola
generally have a strange predilection for bringing their dead
to the sides of the most frequented paths. They have a particular anxiety
to secure the point where cross-roads meet. On and around the graves
are planted tree euphorbias and other species of that family.
On the grave itself they also place water-bottles, broken pipes,
cooking vessels, and sometimes a little bow and arrow.

The Portuguese government, wishing to prevent this custom, affixed a penalty
on any one burying in the roads, and appointed places of public sepulture
in every district in the country. The people persist, however,
in spite of the most stringent enforcement of the law,
to follow their ancient custom.

The country between the Coanza and Pungo Andongo is covered with low trees,
bushes, and fine pasturage. In the latter, we were pleased to see
our old acquaintances, the gaudy gladiolus, Amaryllis toxicaria, hymanthus,
and other bulbs in as flourishing a condition as at the Cape.

It is surprising that so little has been done in the way of agriculture
in Angola. Raising wheat by means of irrigation has never been tried;
no plow is ever used; and the only instrument is the native hoe,
in the hands of slaves. The chief object of agriculture is the manioc,
which does not contain nutriment sufficient to give proper stamina
to the people. The half-caste Portuguese have not so much energy
as their fathers. They subsist chiefly on the manioc,
and, as that can be eaten either raw, roasted, or boiled,
as it comes from the ground; or fermented in water, and then roasted or dried
after fermentation, and baked or pounded into fine meal;
or rasped into meal and cooked as farina; or made into confectionary
with butter and sugar, it does not so soon pall upon the palate
as one might imagine, when told that it constitutes their principal food.
The leaves boiled make an excellent vegetable for the table; and,
when eaten by goats, their milk is much increased. The wood is a good fuel,
and yields a large quantity of potash. If planted in a dry soil,
it takes two years to come to perfection, requiring, during that time,
one weeding only. It bears drought well, and never shrivels up,
like other plants, when deprived of rain. When planted in low alluvial soils,
and either well supplied with rain or annually flooded,
twelve, or even ten months, are sufficient to bring it to maturity.
The root rasped while raw, placed upon a cloth, and rubbed with the hands
while water is poured upon it, parts with its starchy glutinous matter,
and this, when it settles at the bottom of the vessel, and the water
poured off, is placed in the sun till nearly dry, to form tapioca.
The process of drying is completed on an iron plate over a slow fire,
the mass being stirred meanwhile with a stick, and when quite dry
it appears agglutinated into little globules, and is in the form
we see the tapioca of commerce. This is never eaten by weevils,
and so little labor is required in its cultivation that on the spot
it is extremely cheap. Throughout the interior parts of Angola,
fine manioc meal, which could with ease have been converted either into
superior starch or tapioca, is commonly sold at the rate of about ten pounds
for a penny. All this region, however, has no means of transport to Loanda
other than the shoulders of the carriers and slaves over a footpath.

Cambambe, to which the navigation of the Coanza reaches,
is reported to be thirty leagues below Pungo Andongo.
A large waterfall is the limit on that side; and another exists higher up,
at the confluence of the Lombe (lat. 9d 41' 26" S., and about long. 16d E.),
over which hippopotami and elephants are sometimes drawn and killed.
The river between is rapid, and generally rushes over a rocky bottom.
Its source is pointed out as S.E. or S.S.E. of its confluence with the Lombe,
and near Bihe. The situation of Bihe is not well known.
When at Sanza we were assured that it lies nearly south of that point,
and eight days distant. This statement seemed to be corroborated
by our meeting many people going to Matiamvo and to Loanda from Bihe.
Both parties had come to Sanza, and then branched off,
one to the east, the other to the west. The source of the Coanza
is thus probably not far from Sanza.

I had the happiness of doing a little good in the way of administering
to the sick, for there are no doctors in the interior of Angola.
Notwithstanding the general healthiness of this fine district
and its pleasant temperature, I was attacked by fever myself.
While confined to my room, a gentleman of color, a canon of the Church,
kindly paid me a visit. He was on a tour of visitation
in the different interior districts for the purpose of baptizing and marrying.
He had lately been on a visit to Lisbon in company with the Prince of Congo,
and had been invested with an order of honor by the King of Portugal as
an acknowledgment of his services. He had all the appearance of a true negro,
but commanded the respect of the people; and Colonel P.,
who had known him for thirty years, pronounced him to be a good man.
There are only three or four priests in Loanda, all men of color,
but educated for the office. About the time of my journey in Angola,
an offer was made to any young men of ability who might wish
to devote themselves to the service of the Church, to afford them
the requisite education at the University of Coimbra in Portugal.
I was informed, on what seemed good authority, that the Prince of Congo
is professedly a Christian, and that there are no fewer than twelve churches
in that kingdom, the fruits of the mission established in former times
at San Salvador, the capital. These churches are kept in partial repair
by the people, who also keep up the ceremonies of the Church,
pronouncing some gibberish over the dead, in imitation of the Latin prayers
which they had formerly heard. Many of them can read and write.
When a King of Congo dies, the body is wrapped up in a great many
folds of cloth until a priest can come from Loanda to consecrate
his successor. The King of Congo still retains the title of Lord of Angola,
which he had when the Jinga, the original possessors of the soil,
owed him allegiance; and, when he writes to the Governor of Angola,
he places his own name first, as if addressing his vassal.
The Jinga paid him tribute annually in cowries, which were found on the island
that shelters Loanda harbor, and, on refusing to continue payment,
the King of Congo gave over the island to the Portuguese,
and thus their dominion commenced in this quarter.

There is not much knowledge of the Christian religion in either
Congo or Angola, yet it is looked upon with a certain degree of favor.
The prevalence of fever is probably the reason why no priest occupies a post
in any part of the interior. They come on tours of visitation
like that mentioned, and it is said that no expense is incurred,
for all the people are ready not only to pay for their services,
but also to furnish every article in their power gratuitously.
In view of the desolate condition of this fine missionary field,
it is more than probable that the presence of a few Protestants
would soon provoke the priests, if not to love, to good works.

Chapter 22.

  Leave Pungo Andongo -- Extent of Portuguese Power --
  Meet Traders and Carriers -- Red Ants; their fierce Attack;
  Usefulness; Numbers -- Descend the Heights of Tala Mungongo --
  Fruit-trees in the Valley of Cassange -- Edible Muscle --
  Birds -- Cassange Village -- Quinine and Cathory --
  Sickness of Captain Neves' Infant -- A Diviner thrashed --
  Death of the Child -- Mourning -- Loss of Life from the Ordeal --
  Wide-spread Superstitions -- The Chieftainship -- Charms --
  Receive Copies of the "Times" -- Trading Pombeiros --
  Present for Matiamvo -- Fever after westerly Winds -- Capabilities of Angola
  for producing the raw Materials of English Manufacture --
  Trading Parties with Ivory -- More Fever -- A Hyaena's Choice --
  Makololo Opinion of the Portuguese -- Cypriano's Debt -- A Funeral --
  Dread of disembodied Spirits -- Beautiful Morning Scenes --
  Crossing the Quango -- Ambakistas called "The Jews of Angola" --
  Fashions of the Bashinje -- Approach the Village of Sansawe --
  His Idea of Dignity -- The Pombeiros' Present -- Long Detention --
  A Blow on the Beard -- Attacked in a Forest -- Sudden Conversion
  of a fighting Chief to Peace Principles by means of a Revolver --
  No Blood shed in consequence -- Rate of Traveling -- Slave Women --
  Way of addressing Slaves -- Their thievish Propensities --
  Feeders of the Congo or Zaire -- Obliged to refuse Presents --
  Cross the Loajima -- Appearance of People; Hair Fashions.

JANUARY 1, 1855. Having, through the kindness of Colonel Pires,
reproduced some of my lost papers, I left Pungo Andongo
the first day of this year, and at Candumba, slept in
one of the dairy establishments of my friend, who had sent forward orders
for an ample supply of butter, cheese, and milk. Our path lay along
the right bank of the Coanza. This is composed of the same sandstone rock,
with pebbles, which forms the flooring of the country. The land is level,
has much open forest, and is well adapted for pasturage.

On reaching the confluence of the Lombe, we left the river,
and proceeded in a northeasterly direction, through a fine open green country,
to the village of Malange, where we struck into our former path.
A few miles to the west of this a path branches off to a new district named
the Duke Braganza. This path crosses the Lucalla and several of its feeders.
The whole of the country drained by these is described as extremely fertile.
The territory west of Braganza is reported to be mountainous,
well wooded and watered; wild coffee is abundant, and the people
even make their huts of coffee-trees. The rivers Dande, Senza, and Lucalla
are said to rise in one mountain range. Numerous tribes inhabit the country
to the north, who are all independent. The Portuguese power
extends chiefly over the tribes through whose lands we have passed.
It may be said to be firmly seated only between the rivers Dande and Coanza.
It extends inland about three hundred miles to the River Quango;
and the population, according to the imperfect data afforded by the census,
given annually by the commandants of the fifteen or sixteen districts
into which it is divided, can not be under 600,000 souls.

Leaving Malange, we passed quickly, without deviation, along the path
by which we had come. At Sanza (lat. 9d 37' 46" S., long. 16d 59' E.)
we expected to get a little seed-wheat, but this was not now to be found
in Angola. The underlying rock of the whole of this section
is that same sandstone which we have before noticed, but it gradually
becomes finer in the grain, with the addition of a little mica,
the farther we go eastward; we enter upon clay shale at Tala Mungongo
(lat. 9d 42' 37" S., long. 17d 27' E.), and find it dipping
a little to the west. The general geological structure
is a broad fringe of mica and sandstone schist (about 15 Deg. E.),
dipping in toward the centre of the country, beneath these
horizontal and sedimentary rocks of more recent date, which form
an inland basin. The fringe is not, however, the highest in altitude,
though the oldest in age.

While at this latter place we met a native of Bihe who has visited
the country of Shinte three times for the purposes of trade. He gave us
some of the news of that distant part, but not a word of the Makololo,
who have always been represented in the countries to the north
as a desperately savage race, whom no trader could visit with safety.
The half-caste traders whom we met at Shinte's had returned to Angola
with sixty-six slaves and upward of fifty tusks of ivory.
As we came along the path, we daily met long lines of carriers
bearing large square masses of beeswax, each about a hundred pounds weight,
and numbers of elephants' tusks, the property of Angolese merchants.
Many natives were proceeding to the coast also on their own account,
carrying beeswax, ivory, and sweet oil. They appeared to travel
in perfect security; and at different parts of the road
we purchased fowls from them at a penny each. My men took care
to celebrate their own daring in having actually entered ships,
while the natives of these parts, who had endeavored to frighten them
on their way down, had only seen them at a distance. Poor fellows!
they were more than ever attentive to me; and, as they were not obliged
to erect sheds for themselves, in consequence of finding them already built
at the different sleeping-places, all their care was bestowed
in making me comfortable. Mashauana, as usual, made his bed
with his head close to my feet, and never during the entire journey
did I have to call him twice for any thing I needed.

During our stay at Tala Mungongo, our attention was attracted
to a species of red ant which infests different parts of this country.
It is remarkably fond of animal food. The commandant of the village
having slaughtered a cow, slaves were obliged to sit up the whole night,
burning fires of straw around the meat, to prevent them from devouring
most of it. These ants are frequently met with in numbers like a small army.
At a little distance they appear as a brownish-red band,
two or three inches wide, stretched across the path, all eagerly pressing on
in one direction. If a person happens to tread upon them,
they rush up his legs and bite with surprising vigor. The first time
I encountered this by no means contemptible enemy was near Cassange.
My attention being taken up in viewing the distant landscape, I accidentally
stepped upon one of their nests. Not an instant seemed to elapse
before a simultaneous attack was made on various unprotected parts,
up the trowsers from below, and on my neck and breast above.
The bites of these furies were like sparks of fire, and there was no retreat.
I jumped about for a second or two, then in desperation
tore off all my clothing, and rubbed and picked them off seriatim
as quickly as possible. Ugh! they would make the most lethargic mortal
look alive. Fortunately, no one observed this rencounter,
or word might have been taken back to the village that I had become mad.
I was once assaulted in a similar way when sound asleep at night in my tent,
and it was only by holding my blanket over the fire that I could
get rid of them. It is really astonishing how such small bodies
can contain so large an amount of ill-nature. They not only bite,
but twist themselves round after the mandibles are inserted, to produce
laceration and pain, more than would be effected by the single wound.
Frequently, while sitting on the ox, as he happened to tread near a band,
they would rush up his legs to the rider, and soon let him know
that he had disturbed their march. They possess no fear,
attacking with equal ferocity the largest as well as the smallest animals.
When any person has leaped over the band, numbers of them leave the ranks
and rush along the path, seemingly anxious for a fight. They are very useful
in ridding the country of dead animal matter, and, when they visit
a human habitation, clear it entirely of the destructive white ants
and other vermin. They destroy many noxious insects and reptiles.
The severity of their attack is greatly increased by their vast numbers,
and rats, mice, lizards, and even the `Python natalensis',
when in a state of surfeit from recent feeding, fall victims
to their fierce onslaught. These ants never make hills like the white ant.
Their nests are but a short distance beneath the soil,
which has the soft appearance of the abodes of ants in England.
Occasionally they construct galleries over their path
to the cells of the white ant, in order to secure themselves
from the heat of the sun during their marauding expeditions.

JANUARY 15TH, 1855. We descended in one hour from the heights
of Tala Mungongo. I counted the number of paces made on the slope downward,
and found them to be sixteen hundred, which may give a perpendicular height
of from twelve to fifteen hundred feet. Water boiled at 206 Degrees
at Tala Mungongo above, and at 208 Deg. at the bottom of the declivity,
the air being at 72 Deg. in the shade in the former case,
and 94 Deg. in the latter. The temperature generally throughout the day
was from 94 Deg. to 97 Deg. in the coolest shade we could find.

The rivulets which cut up the valley of Cassange were now dry,
but the Lui and Luare contained abundance of rather brackish water.
The banks are lined with palm, wild date-trees, and many guavas,
the fruit of which was now becoming ripe. A tree much like the mango abounds,
but it does not yield fruit. In these rivers a kind of edible muscle
is plentiful, the shells of which exist in all the alluvial beds
of the ancient rivers as far as the Kuruman. The brackish nature of the water
probably enables it to exist here. On the open grassy lawns
great numbers of a species of lark are seen. They are black,
with yellow shoulders. Another black bird, with a long tail
(`Centropus Senegalensis'), floats awkwardly, with its tail
in a perpendicular position, over the long grass. It always chooses
the highest points, and is caught on them with bird-lime,
the long black tail-feathers being highly esteemed by the natives for plumes.
We saw here also the "Lehututu" (`Tragopan Leadbeaterii'),
a large bird strongly resembling a turkey; it is black on the ground,
but when it flies the outer half of the wings are white. It kills serpents,
striking them dexterously behind the head. It derives its native name
from the noise it makes, and it is found as far as Kolobeng.
Another species like it is called the Abyssinian hornbill.

Before we reached Cassange we were overtaken by the commandant,
Senhor Carvalho, who was returning, with a detachment of fifty men
and a field-piece, from an unsuccessful search after some rebels.
The rebels had fled, and all he could do was to burn their huts.
He kindly invited me to take up my residence with him; but, not wishing
to pass by the gentleman (Captain Neves) who had so kindly received me
on my first arrival in the Portuguese possessions, I declined.
Senhor Rego had been superseded in his command, because the Governor Amaral,
who had come into office since my departure from Loanda,
had determined that the law which requires the office of commandant
to be exclusively occupied by military officers of the line
should once more come into operation. I was again most kindly welcomed
by my friend, Captain Neves, whom I found laboring under
a violent inflammation and abscess of the hand. There is nothing
in the situation of this village to indicate unhealthiness,
except, perhaps, the rank luxuriance of the vegetation.
Nearly all the Portuguese inhabitants suffer from enlargement of the spleen,
the effects of frequent intermittents, and have generally a sickly appearance.
Thinking that this affection of the hand was simply an effort of nature
to get rid of malarious matter from the system, I recommended
the use of quinine. He himself applied the leaf of a plant called cathory,
famed among the natives as an excellent remedy for ulcers.
The cathory leaves, when boiled, exude a gummy juice,
which effectually shuts out the external air. Each remedy, of course,
claimed the merit of the cure.

Many of the children are cut off by fever. A fine boy of Captain Neves' had,
since my passage westward, shared a similar fate. Another child died
during the period of my visit. During his sickness, his mother,
a woman of color, sent for a diviner in order to ascertain
what ought to be done. The diviner, after throwing his dice,
worked himself into the state of ecstasy in which they pretend to be
in communication with the Barimo. He then gave the oracular response
that the child was being killed by the spirit of a Portuguese trader
who once lived at Cassange. The case was this: on the death of the trader,
the other Portuguese merchants in the village came together,
and sold the goods of the departed to each other, each man accounting
for the portion received to the creditors of the deceased at Loanda.
The natives, looking on, and not understanding the nature of written
mercantile transactions, concluded that the merchants of Cassange
had simply stolen the dead man's goods, and that now the spirit was killing
the child of Captain Neves for the part he had taken in the affair.
The diviner, in his response, revealed the impression made on his own mind
by the sale, and likewise the native ideas of departed souls.
As they give the whites credit for greater stupidity than themselves
in all these matters, the mother of the child came, and told the father
that he ought to give a slave to the diviner as a fee to make a sacrifice
to appease the spirit and save the life of the child. The father
quietly sent for a neighbor, and, though the diviner pretended to remain
in his state of ecstasy, the brisk application of two sticks to his back
suddenly reduced him to his senses and a most undignified flight.

The mother of this child seemed to have no confidence in European wisdom,
and, though I desired her to keep the child out of currents of wind,
she preferred to follow her own custom, and even got it cupped on the cheeks.
The consequence was that the child was soon in a dying state,
and the father wishing it to be baptized, I commended its soul to
the care and compassion of Him who said, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven."
The mother at once rushed away, and commenced that doleful wail
which is so affecting, as it indicates sorrow without hope.
She continued it without intermission until the child was buried.
In the evening her female companions used a small musical instrument,
which produced a kind of screeching sound, as an accompaniment
of the death wail.

In the construction of this instrument they make use of caoutchouc, which,
with a variety of other gums, is found in different parts of this country.

The intercourse which the natives have had with white men
does not seem to have much ameliorated their condition.
A great number of persons are reported to lose their lives annually
in different districts of Angola by the cruel superstitions
to which they are addicted, and the Portuguese authorities either
know nothing of them, or are unable to prevent their occurrence.
The natives are bound to secrecy by those who administer the ordeal,
which generally causes the death of the victim. A person,
when accused of witchcraft, will often travel from distant districts
in order to assert her innocency and brave the test. They come to a river
on the Cassange called Dua, drink the infusion of a poisonous tree,
and perish unknown.

A woman was accused by a brother-in-law of being the cause of his sickness
while we were at Cassange. She offered to take the ordeal,
as she had the idea that it would but prove her conscious innocence.
Captain Neves refused his consent to her going, and thus saved her life,
which would have been sacrificed, for the poison is very virulent.
When a strong stomach rejects it, the accuser reiterates his charge;
the dose is repeated, and the person dies. Hundreds perish thus every year
in the valley of Cassange.

The same superstitious ideas being prevalent through the whole of the country
north of the Zambesi, seems to indicate that the people must originally
have been one. All believe that the souls of the departed still mingle
among the living, and partake in some way of the food they consume.
In sickness, sacrifices of fowls and goats are made to appease the spirits.
It is imagined that they wish to take the living away from earth
and all its enjoyments. When one man has killed another, a sacrifice is made,
as if to lay the spirit of the victim. A sect is reported to exist
who kill men in order to take their hearts and offer them to the Barimo.

The chieftainship is elective from certain families.
Among the Bangalas of the Cassange valley the chief is chosen
from three families in rotation. A chief's brother inherits
in preference to his son. The sons of a sister belong to her brother;
and he often sells his nephews to pay his debts. By this and other
unnatural customs, more than by war, is the slave-market supplied.

The prejudices in favor of these practices are very deeply rooted
in the native mind. Even at Loanda they retire out of the city in order
to perform their heathenish rites without the cognizance of the authorities.
Their religion, if such it may be called, is one of dread. Numbers of charms
are employed to avert the evils with which they feel themselves
to be encompassed. Occasionally you meet a man, more cautious or more timid
than the rest, with twenty or thirty charms round his neck. He seems to act
upon the principle of Proclus, in his prayer to all the gods and goddesses:
among so many he surely must have the right one. The disrespect
which Europeans pay to the objects of their fear is to their minds
only an evidence of great folly.

While here, I reproduced the last of my lost papers and maps;
and as there is a post twice a month from Loanda, I had the happiness
to receive a packet of the "Times", and, among other news,
an account of the Russian war up to the terrible charge of the light cavalry.
The intense anxiety I felt to hear more may be imagined by every true patriot;
but I was forced to brood on in silent thought, and utter my poor prayers
for friends who perchance were now no more, until I reached
the other side of the continent.

A considerable trade is carried on by the Cassange merchants with all the
surrounding territory by means of native traders, whom they term "Pombeiros".
Two of these, called in the history of Angola "the trading blacks"
(os feirantes pretos), Pedro Joao Baptista and Antonio Jose,
having been sent by the first Portuguese trader that lived at Cassange,
actually returned from some of the Portuguese possessions in the East
with letters from the governor of Mozambique in the year 1815,
proving, as is remarked, "the possibility of so important a communication
between Mozambique and Loanda."  This is the only instance
of native Portuguese subjects crossing the continent. No European
ever accomplished it, though this fact has lately been quoted
as if the men had been "PORTUGUESE".

Captain Neves was now actively engaged in preparing a present,
worth about fifty pounds, to be sent by Pombeiros to Matiamvo.
It consisted of great quantities of cotton cloth, a large carpet,
an arm-chair with a canopy and curtains of crimson calico, an iron bedstead,
mosquito curtains, beads, etc., and a number of pictures rudely painted in oil
by an embryo black painter at Cassange.

Matiamvo, like most of the natives in the interior of the country,
has a strong desire to possess a cannon, and had sent ten large tusks
to purchase one; but, being government property, it could not be sold:
he was now furnished with a blunderbuss, mounted as a cannon,
which would probably please him as well.

Senhor Graca and some other Portuguese have visited this chief
at different times; but no European resides beyond the Quango;
indeed, it is contrary to the policy of the government of Angola
to allow their subjects to penetrate further into the interior. The present
would have been a good opportunity for me to have visited that chief,
and I felt strongly inclined to do so, as he had expressed dissatisfaction
respecting my treatment by the Chiboque, and even threatened to punish them.
As it would be improper to force my men to go thither, I resolved
to wait and see whether the proposition might not emanate from themselves.
When I can get the natives to agree in the propriety of any step, they go
to the end of the affair without a murmur. I speak to them and treat them
as rational beings, and generally get on well with them in consequence.

I have already remarked on the unhealthiness of Cassange;
and Captain Neves, who possesses an observing turn of mind, had noticed
that always when the west wind blows much fever immediately follows.
As long as easterly winds prevail, all enjoy good health;
but in January, February, March, and April, the winds are variable,
and sickness is general. The unhealthiness of the westerly winds
probably results from malaria, appearing to be heavier than common air,
and sweeping down into the valley of Cassange from the western plateau,
somewhat in the same way as the carbonic acid gas from bean-fields
is supposed by colliers to do into coal-pits. In the west of Scotland
strong objections are made by that body of men to farmers planting beans
in their vicinity, from the belief that they render the mines unhealthy.
The gravitation of the malaria from the more elevated land of Tala Mungongo
toward Cassange is the only way the unhealthiness of this spot
on the prevalence of the westerly winds can be accounted for.
The banks of the Quango, though much more marshy, and covered with
ranker vegetation, are comparatively healthy; but thither the westerly wind
does not seem to convey the noxious agent.

FEB. 20TH. On the day of starting from Cassange, the westerly wind
blew strongly, and on the day following we were brought to a stand
by several of our party being laid up with fever. This complaint
is the only serious drawback Angola possesses. It is in every other respect
an agreeable land, and admirably adapted for yielding
a rich abundance of tropical produce for the rest of the world.
Indeed, I have no hesitation in asserting that, had it been
in the possession of England, it would now have been yielding
as much or more of the raw material for her manufactures
as an equal extent of territory in the cotton-growing states of America.
A railway from Loanda to this valley would secure the trade
of most of the interior of South Central Africa.*

--
* The following statistics may be of interest to mercantile men.
  They show that since the repression of the slave-trade in Angola
  the value of the exports in lawful commerce has steadily augmented.
  We have no returns since 1850, but the prosperity of legitimate trade
  has suffered no check. The duties are noted in Portuguese money, "milreis",
  each of which is about three shillings in value.

    Return of the Quantities and Value of the Staple Articles,
    the Produce of the Province of ANGOLA, exported from
    ST. PAUL DE LOANDA between July 1, 1848, and June 30, 1849,
    specifying the Quantities and Value of those exported
    in Portuguese Ships and in Ships of other Nations.

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------
  |                 |  In Portuguese Ships. || In Ships of other Nations. |
  |    Articles.   |------------------------||----------------------------|
  |                 | Amount. |    Value.   ||   Amount.  |    Value.   |
  |-----------------|---------|--------------||-------------|--------------|
  |                 |         |   L.  s. d. ||             |   L.  s. d. |
  | Ivory. . . Cwt. |   1454  | 35,350  0  0 ||  515        | 12,875  0  0 |
  | Palm oil . "   |   1440  |  2,160  0  0 || 6671  1 qr. | 10,036 17  6 |
  | Coffee . . "   |    152  |    304  0  0 ||  684        |  1,368  0  0 |
  | Hides. . . No. |   1837  |    633 17  6 ||  849        |    318 17  6 |
  | Gum. . . . Cwt. |    147  |    205 16  0 || 4763        |  6,668  4  0 |
  | Beeswax. . "   |   1109  |  6,654  0  0 ||  544        |  3,264  0  0 |
  | Orchella . Tons |    630  | 23,940  0  0 || ....       |   ....      |
  |                 |         |--------------||             |--------------|
  |                 |         | 69,247 13  6 ||             | 34,530 19  0 |
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------

      TOTAL Quantity and Value of Exports from LOANDA.

                                             L.  s. d.
    Ivory . . . Cwt. 1969        . . . . 48,225  0  0
    Palm oil. . "    8111 1 qr. . . . . 12,196 17  6
    Coffee. . . "     836        . . . .  1,672  0  0
    Hides . . . No.  2686        . . . .    952 15  0
    Gum . . . . Cwt. 4910        . . . .  6,874  0  0
    Beeswax . . "    1653        . . . .  9,918  0  0
    Orchella. . Tons   630        . . . . 23,940  0  0
                                          -------------
                                       L. 103,778 12  6

    ABSTRACT VIEW of the Net Revenue of the Customs at St. Paul de Loanda
    in quinquennial periods from 1818-19 to 1843-44, both included;
    and thence in each year to 1848-49.

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  |         |             |            |          |            |Tonnage Dues,|
  |         |  Duties on  | Duties on  |Duties on | Duties on  |Store Rents, |
  |  Years. | Importation.|Exportation.|Re-export-|  Slaves.  |  and other  |
  |         |             |            |  ation. |            | incidental  |
  |         |             |            |          |            |  Receipts. |
  |---------|-------------|------------|----------|------------|-------------|
  |         |   Mil. reis.|  Mil. reis.|Mil. reis.|  Mil. reis.|   Mil. reis.|
  | 1818-19 |     573 876 |    ...    |   ....  |137,320 800 | 148,608 661 |
  | 1823-24 |   3,490 752 |    460 420 |   ....  |120,843 000 | 133,446 892 |
  | 1828-29 |   4,700 684 |    800 280 |   ....  |125,330 000 | 139,981 364 |
  | 1833-34 |   7,490 000 |  1,590 000 |   ....  |139,280 000 | 158,978 640 |
  | 1838-39 |  25,800 590 |  2,720 000 |   ....  |135,470 320 | 173,710 910 |
  | 1843-44 |  53,240 000 |  4,320 000 |   ....  | 72,195 230 | 138,255 230 |
  | 1844-45 |  99,380 264 |  6,995 095 |   ....  | 17,676 000 | 134,941 359 |
  | 1845-46 | 150,233 789 |  9,610 735 |   ....  |  5,116 500 | 181,423 550 |
  | 1846-47 | 122,501 186 |  8,605 821 |   ....  |    549 000 | 114,599 235 |
  | 1847-48 | 119,246 826 |  9,718 676 | 4097 868 |  1,231 200 | 146,321 476 |
  | 1848-49 | 131,105 453 |  9,969 960 | 1164 309 |  1,183 500 | 157,152 400 |
  |         |-------------|------------|          |------------|             |
  |         | 717,763 420*| 54,790 987 |          |756,195 550 |             |
  |         | = L.102,680 |  = L.7827  |          |= L.108,028 |             |
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  |         | Net Revenue  |  Revenue from  |  Total Net   | Total Amount |
  |  Years. |  of Customs. | other Sources. |   Revenue.  |  of Charges. |
  |---------|--------------|----------------|--------------|--------------|
  |         |   L.  s. d. |    L.  s. d. |   L.  s. d. |   L.  s. d. |
  | 1844-45 | 26,988  5  5 |   9,701 10  8  | 36,689 16  1 | 53,542  5  4 |
  | 1845-46 | 36,284 14  2 |  24,580  4 10  | 60,864 19  0 | 56,695  9  7 |
  | 1846-47 | 28,919 16 11 |  23,327  9 11  | 52,247  6 10 | 52,180  9  7 |
  | 1847-48 | 29,264  5 10 |  24,490 11  8  | 53,754 17  6 | 53,440  8  8 |
  | 1848-49 | 31,430  9  7 |  18,868  3 10  | 51,298 13  5 | 50,686  3  3 |
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The above account exhibits the total revenue and charges of the government
  of St. Paul de Loanda in each year, from 1844-45 to 1848-49, both included.
  The above three tables are copied from the appendix to a dispatch
  sent by Mr. Gabriel to Viscount Palmerston, dated the 5th of August, 1850,
  and, among other facts of interest, show a very satisfactory diminution
  in the duties upon slaves.

  The returns from 1818 to 1844 have been obtained from different sources
  as the average revenue; those from 1844 to 1849 are from
  the Custom-house records.
--

As soon as we could move toward the Quango we did so, meeting in our course
several trading-parties, both native and Portuguese. We met two of the latter
carrying a tusk weighing 126 lbs. The owner afterward informed us
that its fellow on the left side of the same elephant was 130 lbs.
It was 8 feet 6-1/2 inches long, and 21 inches in circumference
at the part on which the lip of the animal rests. The elephant was
rather a small one, as is common in this hot central region.
Some idea may be formed of the strength of his neck when it is recollected
that he bore a weight of 256 lbs. The ivory which comes
from the east and northeast of Cassange is very much larger
than any to be found further south. Captain Neves had one weighing 120 lbs.,
and this weight is by no means uncommon. They have been found
weighing even 158 lbs.

Before reaching the Quango we were again brought to a stand
by fever in two of my companions, close to the residence of a Portuguese
who rejoiced in the name of William Tell, and who lived here
in spite of the prohibition of the government. We were using
the water of a pond, and this gentleman, having come to invite me to dinner,
drank a little of it, and caught fever in consequence. If malarious matter
existed in water, it would have been a wonder had we escaped;
for, traveling in the sun, with the thermometer from 96 Degrees to 98 Degrees
in the shade, the evaporation from our bodies causing much thirst,
we generally partook of every water we came to. We had probably thus
more disease than others might suffer who had better shelter.

Mr. Tell remarked that his garden was rather barren, being still,
as he said, wild; but when more worked it would become better,
though no manure be applied. My men were busy collecting
a better breed of fowls and pigeons than those in their own country.
Mr. Tell presented them with some large specimens from Rio Janeiro.
Of these they were wonderfully proud, and bore the cock in triumph
through the country of the Balonda, as evidence of having been to the sea.
But when at the village of Shinte, a hyaena came into our midst
when we were all sound asleep, and picked out the giant in his basket
from eighty-four others, and he was lost, to the great grief of my men.
The anxiety these people have always shown to improve the breed
of their domestic animals is, I think, a favorable point in their character.
On looking at the common breeds in the possession of the Portuguese,
which are merely native cattle, and seeing them slaughter
both heifer-calves and cows, which they themselves never do,
and likewise making no use of the milk, they concluded that the Portuguese
must be an inferior race of white men. They never ceased remarking
on the fine ground for gardens over which we were passing; and when
I happened to mention that most of the flour which the Portuguese consumed
came from another country, they exclaimed, "Are they ignorant of tillage?"
"They know nothing but buying and selling: they are not men."
I hope it may reach the ears of my Angolese friends, and that they
may be stirred up to develop the resources of their fine country.

On coming back to Cypriano's village on the 28th, we found
that his step-father had died after we had passed, and, according to
the custom of the country, he had spent more than his patrimony
in funeral orgies. He acted with his wonted kindness, though, unfortunately,
drinking has got him so deeply in debt that he now keeps out of the way
of his creditors. He informed us that the source of the Quango is eight days,
or one hundred miles, to the south of this, and in a range called Mosamba,
in the country of the Basongo. We can see from this a sort of break
in the high land which stretches away round to Tala Mongongo,
through which the river comes.

A death had occurred in a village about a mile off, and the people were busy
beating drums and firing guns. The funeral rites are half festive,
half mourning, partaking somewhat of the character of an Irish wake.
There is nothing more heart-rending than their death wails.
When the natives turn their eyes to the future world, they have a view
cheerless enough of their own utter helplessness and hopelessness.
They fancy themselves completely in the power of the disembodied spirits,
and look upon the prospect of following them as the greatest of misfortunes.
Hence they are constantly deprecating the wrath of departed souls,
believing that, if they are appeased, there is no other cause of death
but witchcraft, which may be averted by charms. The whole of the colored
population of Angola are sunk in these gross superstitions,
but have the opinion, notwithstanding, that they are wiser in these matters
than their white neighbors. Each tribe has a consciousness of following
its own best interests in the best way. They are by no means
destitute of that self-esteem which is so common in other nations;
yet they fear all manner of phantoms, and have half-developed
ideas and traditions of something or other, they know not what.
The pleasures of animal life are ever present to their minds
as the supreme good; and, but for the innumerable invisibilities, they might
enjoy their luxurious climate as much as it is possible for man to do.
I have often thought, in traveling through their land, that it presents
pictures of beauty which angels might enjoy. How often have I beheld,
in still mornings, scenes the very essence of beauty, and all bathed
in a quiet air of delicious warmth! yet the occasional soft motion
imparted a pleasing sensation of coolness as of a fan. Green grassy meadows,
the cattle feeding, the goats browsing, the kids skipping,
the groups of herd-boys with miniature bows, arrows, and spears;
the women wending their way to the river with watering-pots
poised jauntily on their heads; men sewing under the shady banians;
and old gray-headed fathers sitting on the ground, with staff in hand,
listening to the morning gossip, while others carry trees or branches to
repair their hedges; and all this, flooded with the bright African sunshine,
and the birds singing among the branches before the heat of the day
has become intense, form pictures which can never be forgotten.

We were informed that a chief named Gando, living on the other side
of the river, having been accused of witchcraft, was killed by the ordeal,
and his body thrown into the Quango.

The ferrymen demanded thirty yards of calico, but received six thankfully.
The canoes were wretched, carrying only two persons at a time;
but my men being well acquainted with the water, we all got over
in about two hours and a half. They excited the admiration of the inhabitants
by the manner in which they managed the cattle and donkeys in crossing.
The most stubborn of beasts found himself powerless in their hands.
Five or six, seizing hold on one, bundled him at once into the stream,
and, in this predicament, he always thought it best policy
to give in and swim. The men sometimes swam along with the cattle,
and forced them to go on by dashing water at their heads. The difference
between my men and those of the native traders who accompanied us
was never more apparent than now; for, while my men felt an interest
in every thing we possessed in common, theirs were rather glad when the oxen
refused to cross, for, being obliged to slaughter them on such occasions,
the loss to their masters was a welcome feast to themselves.

On the eastern side of the Quango we passed on, without visiting
our friend of the conical head-dress, to the residence of some Ambakistas who
had crossed the river in order to secure the first chances of trade in wax.
I have before remarked on the knowledge of reading and writing that these
Ambakistas possess; they are famed for their love of all sorts of learning
within their reach, a knowledge of the history of Portugal, Portuguese law,
etc., etc. They are remarkably keen in trade, and are sometimes called
the Jews of Angola. They are employed as clerks and writers,
their feminine delicacy of constitution enabling them to write
a fine lady's hand, a kind of writing much esteemed among the Portuguese.
They are not physically equal to the European Portuguese, but possess
considerable ability; and it is said that half-castes, in the course
of a few generations, return to the black color of the maternal ancestor.
The black population of Angola has become much deteriorated.
They are not so strongly formed as the independent tribes.
A large quantity of aguardiente, an inferior kind of spirit,
is imported into the country, which is most injurious in its effects.
We saw many parties carrying casks of this baneful liquor
to the independent chiefs beyond; and were informed that it is difficult for
any trader to convey it far, carriers being in the habit of helping themselves
by means of a straw, and then injecting an equal amount of water
when near the point of delivery. To prevent this, it is common to see
large demijohns with padlocks on the corks. These are frequently stolen.
In fact, the carriers are much addicted to both lying and thieving,
as might be expected from the lowest class of a people on whom
the debasing slave system has acted for two centuries.

The Bashinje, in whose country we now are, seem to possess
more of the low negro character and physiognomy than either
the Balonda or Basongo; their color is generally dirty black,
foreheads low and compressed, noses flat and much expanded laterally,
though this is partly owing to the alae spreading over the cheeks,
by the custom of inserting bits of sticks or reeds in the septum;
their teeth are deformed by being filed to points; their lips are large.
They make a nearer approach to a general negro appearance
than any tribes I met; but I did not notice this on my way down.
They cultivate pretty largely, and rely upon their agricultural products
for their supplies of salt, flesh, tobacco, etc., from Bangalas.
Their clothing consists of pieces of skin, hung loosely from the girdle
in front and behind. They plait their hair fantastically. We saw
some women coming with their hair woven into the form of a European hat,
and it was only by a closer inspection that its nature was detected.
Others had it arranged in tufts, with a threefold cord along the ridge
of each tuft; while others, again, follow the ancient Egyptian fashion,
having the whole mass of wool plaited into cords, all hanging down as far
as the shoulders. This mode, with the somewhat Egyptian cast of countenance
in other parts of Londa, reminded me strongly of the paintings of that nation
in the British Museum.

We had now rain every day, and the sky seldom presented
that cloudless aspect and clear blue so common in the dry lands of the south.
The heavens are often overcast by large white motionless masses,
which stand for hours in the same position, and the intervening spaces
are filled with a milk-and-water-looking haze. Notwithstanding these
unfavorable circumstances, I obtained good observations
for the longitude of this important point on both sides of the Quango,
and found the river running in 9d 50' S. lat., 18d 33' E. long.

On proceeding to our former station near Sansawe's village,
he ran to meet us with wonderful urbanity, asking if we had seen Moene Put,
king of the white men (or Portuguese); and added, on parting,
that he would come to receive his dues in the evening. I replied that,
as he had treated us so scurvily, even forbidding his people
to sell us any food, if he did not bring us a fowl and some eggs
as part of his duty as a chief, he should receive no present from me.
When he came, it was in the usual Londa way of showing
the exalted position he occupies, mounted on the shoulders of his spokesman,
as schoolboys sometimes do in England, and as was represented
to have been the case in the southern islands when Captain Cook visited them.
My companions, amused at his idea of dignity, greeted him with a hearty laugh.
He visited the native traders first, and then came to me with two cocks
as a present. I spoke to him about the impolicy of treatment we had received
at his hands, and quoted the example of the Bangalas, who had been conquered
by the Portuguese, for their extortionate demands of payment for firewood,
grass, water, etc., and concluded by denying his right to any payment
for simply passing through uncultivated land. To all this he agreed;
and then I gave him, as a token of friendship, a pannikin of coarse powder,
two iron spoons, and two yards of coarse printed calico.
He looked rather saucily at these articles, for he had just received
a barrel containing 18 lbs. of powder, 24 yards of calico,
and two bottles of brandy, from Senhor Pascoal the Pombeiro.
Other presents were added the next day, but we gave nothing more;
and the Pombeiros informed me that it was necessary to give largely,
because they are accompanied by slaves and carriers who are
no great friends to their masters; and if they did not secure
the friendship of these petty chiefs, many slaves and their loads
might be stolen while passing through the forests. It is thus
a sort of black-mail that these insignificant chiefs levy;
and the native traders, in paying, do so simply as a bribe
to keep them honest. This chief was a man of no power,
but in our former ignorance of this he plagued us a whole day in passing.

Finding the progress of Senhor Pascoal and the other Pombeiros
excessively slow, I resolved to forego his company to Cabango
after I had delivered to him some letters to be sent back to Cassange.
I went forward with the intention of finishing my writing, and leaving
a packet for him at some village. We ascended the eastern acclivity
that bounds the Cassange valley, which has rather a gradual ascent
up from the Quango, and we found that the last ascent, though apparently
not quite so high as that at Tala Mungongo, is actually much higher.
The top is about 5000 feet above the level of the sea,
and the bottom 3500 feet; water boiling on the heights at 202 Deg.,
the thermometer in the air showing 96 Deg.; and at the bottom at 205 Deg.,
the air being 75 Deg. We had now gained the summit of the western
subtending ridge, and began to descend toward the centre of the country,
hoping soon to get out of the Chiboque territory, which, when we ascended
from the Cassange valley, we had entered; but, on the 19th of April,
the intermittent, which had begun on the 16th of March, was changed into
an extremely severe attack of rheumatic fever. This was brought on
by being obliged to sleep on an extensive plain covered with water.
The rain poured down incessantly, but we formed our beds
by dragging up the earth into oblong mounds, somewhat like graves
in a country church-yard, and then placing grass upon them.
The rain continuing to deluge us, we were unable to leave for two days,
but as soon as it became fair we continued our march.
The heavy dew upon the high grass was so cold as to cause shivering,
and I was forced to lie by for eight days, tossing and groaning
with violent pain in the head. This was the most severe attack I had endured.
It made me quite unfit to move, or even know what was passing outside
my little tent. Senhor Pascoal, who had been detained by the severe rain
at a better spot, at last came up, and, knowing that leeches abounded
in the rivulets, procured a number, and applied some dozens
to the nape of the neck and the loins. This partially relieved the pain.
He was then obliged to move forward, in order to purchase food
for his large party. After many days I began to recover,
and wished to move on, but my men objected to the attempt
on account of my weakness. When Senhor Pascoal had been some time
at the village in front, as he had received instructions from his employer,
Captain Neves, to aid me as much as possible, and being himself
a kindly-disposed person, he sent back two messengers to invite me to come on,
if practicable.

It happened that the head man of the village where I had lain twenty-two days,
while bargaining and quarreling in my camp for a piece of meat,
had been struck on the mouth by one of my men. My principal men
paid five pieces of cloth and a gun as an atonement;
but the more they yielded, the more exorbitant he became,
and he sent word to all the surrounding villages to aid him in avenging
the affront of a blow on the beard. As their courage usually
rises with success, I resolved to yield no more, and departed.
In passing through a forest in the country beyond, we were startled
by a body of men rushing after us. They began by knocking down
the burdens of the hindermost of my men, and several shots were fired,
each party spreading out on both sides of the path. I fortunately had
a six-barreled revolver, which my friend Captain Henry Need,
of her majesty's brig "Linnet", had considerately sent to Golungo Alto
after my departure from Loanda. Taking this in my hand, and forgetting fever,
I staggered quickly along the path with two or three of my men,
and fortunately encountered the chief. The sight of the six barrels
gaping into his stomach, with my own ghastly visage looking daggers
at his face, seemed to produce an instant revolution in his martial feelings,
for he cried out, "Oh! I have only come to speak to you, and wish peace only."
Mashauana had hold of him by the hand, and found him shaking.
We examined his gun, and found that it had been discharged.
Both parties crowded up to their chiefs. One of the opposite party
coming too near, one of mine drove him back with a battle-axe.
The enemy protested their amicable intentions, and my men asserted
the fact of having the goods knocked down as evidence of the contrary.
Without waiting long, I requested all to sit down, and Pitsane,
placing his hand upon the revolver, somewhat allayed their fears.
I then said to the chief, "If you have come with peaceable intentions,
we have no other; go away home to your village."  He replied, "I am afraid
lest you shoot me in the back."  I rejoined, "If I wanted to kill you,
I could shoot you in the face as well."  Mosantu called out to me,
"That's only a Makalaka trick; don't give him your back."
But I said, "Tell him to observe that I am not afraid of him;"
and, turning, mounted my ox. There was not much danger
in the fire that was opened at first, there being so many trees.
The enemy probably expected that the sudden attack would make us
forsake our goods, and allow them to plunder with ease.
The villagers were no doubt pleased with being allowed to retire unscathed,
and we were also glad to get away without having shed a drop of blood,
or having compromised ourselves for any future visit. My men were delighted
with their own bravery, and made the woods ring with telling each other
how "brilliant their conduct before the enemy" would have been,
had hostilities not been brought to a sudden close.

I do not mention this little skirmish as a very frightful affair.
The negro character in these parts, and in Angola, is essentially cowardly,
except when influenced by success. A partial triumph over any body of men
would induce the whole country to rise in arms, and this is the chief danger
to be feared. These petty chiefs have individually but little power,
and with my men, now armed with guns, I could have easily
beaten them off singly; but, being of the same family, they would readily
unite in vast numbers if incited by prospects of successful plunder.
They are by no means equal to the Cape Caffres in any respect whatever.

In the evening we came to Moena Kikanje, and found him a sensible man.
He is the last of the Chiboque chiefs in this direction,
and is in alliance with Matiamvo, whose territory commences
a short distance beyond. His village is placed on the east bank of the Quilo,
which is here twenty yards wide, and breast deep.

The country was generally covered with forest, and we slept every night
at some village. I was so weak, and had become so deaf
from the effects of the fever, that I was glad to avail myself
of the company of Senhor Pascoal and the other native traders.
Our rate of traveling was only two geographical miles per hour,
and the average number of hours three and a half per day, or seven miles.
Two thirds of the month was spent in stoppages, there being
only ten traveling days in each month. The stoppages were caused by sickness,
and the necessity of remaining in different parts to purchase food;
and also because, when one carrier was sick, the rest refused
to carry his load.

One of the Pombeiros had eight good-looking women in a chain
whom he was taking to the country of Matiamvo to sell for ivory.
They always looked ashamed when I happened to come near them,
and must have felt keenly their forlorn and degraded position.
I believe they were captives taken from the rebel Cassanges.
The way in which slaves are spoken of in Angola and eastern Africa
must sound strangely even to the owners when they first come from Europe.
In Angola the common appellation is "o diabo", or "brutu";
and it is quite usual to hear gentlemen call out, "O diabo! bring fire."
In eastern Africa, on the contrary, they apply the term "bicho" (an animal),
and you hear the phrase, "Call the ANIMAL to do this or that."
In fact, slave-owners come to regard their slaves as not human,
and will curse them as the "race of a dog". Most of the carriers
of my traveling companions were hired Basongo, and required
constant vigilance to prevent them stealing the goods they carried.
Salt, which is one of the chief articles conveyed into the country,
became considerably lighter as we went along, but the carriers
shielded themselves by saying that it had been melted by the rain.
Their burdens were taken from them every evening, and placed in security
under the guardianship of Senhor Pascoal's own slaves. It was pitiable
to observe the worrying life he led. There was the greatest contrast possible
between the conduct of his people and that of my faithful Makololo.

We crossed the Loange, a deep but narrow stream, by a bridge.
It becomes much larger, and contains hippopotami, lower down.
It is the boundary of Londa on the west. We slept also
on the banks of the Pezo, now flooded, and could not but admire
their capabilities for easy irrigation. On reaching the River Chikapa
(lat. 10d 10' S., long. 19d 42' E.), the 25th of March,
we found it fifty or sixty yards wide, and flowing E.N.E. into the Kasai.
The adjacent country is of the same level nature as that part of Londa
formerly described; but, having come farther to the eastward
than our previous course, we found that all the rivers had worn for themselves
much deeper valleys than at the points we had formerly crossed them.

Surrounded on all sides by large gloomy forests, the people of these parts
have a much more indistinct idea of the geography of their country than those
who live in hilly regions. It was only after long and patient inquiry
that I became fully persuaded that the Quilo runs into the Chikapa.
As we now crossed them both considerably farther down,
and were greatly to the eastward of our first route, there can be no doubt
that these rivers take the same course as the others, into the Kasai,
and that I had been led into a mistake in saying that any of them flowed
to the westward. Indeed, it was only at this time that I began to perceive
that all the western feeders of the Kasai, except the Quango,
flow first from the western side toward the centre of the country,
then gradually turn, with the Kasai itself, to the north;
and, after the confluence of the Kasai with the Quango,
an immense body of water, collected from all these branches,
finds its way out of the country by means of the River Congo or Zaire
on the west coast.

The people living along the path we are now following were quite accustomed
to the visits of native traders, and did not feel in any way bound
to make presents of food except for the purpose of cheating:
thus, a man gave me a fowl and some meal, and, after a short time, returned.
I offered him a handsome present of beads; but these he declined,
and demanded a cloth instead, which was far more than the value of his gift.
They did the same with my men, until we had to refuse presents altogether.
Others made high demands because I slept in a "house of cloth",
and must be rich. They seemed to think that they had a perfect right
to payment for simply passing through the country.

Beyond the Chikapa we crossed the Kamaue, a small deep stream
proceeding from the S.S.W., and flowing into the Chikapa.

On the 30th of April we reached the Loajima, where we had to form a bridge
to effect our passage. This was not so difficult an operation
as some might imagine; for a tree was growing in a horizontal position across
part of the stream, and, there being no want of the tough climbing plants
which admit of being knitted like ropes, Senhor P. soon constructed a bridge.
The Loajima was here about twenty-five yards wide, but very much deeper
than where I had crossed before on the shoulders of Mashauana.
The last rain of this season had fallen on the 28th, and had
suddenly been followed by a great decrease of the temperature.
The people in these parts seemed more slender in form, and their color
a lighter olive, than any we had hitherto met. The mode of dressing
the great masses of woolly hair which lay upon their shoulders, together with
their general features, again reminded me of the ancient Egyptians.
Several were seen with the upward inclination of the outer angles of the eye,
but this was not general. A few of the ladies adopt a curious custom
of attaching the hair to a hoop which encircles the head, giving it somewhat
the appearance of the glory round the head of the Virgin (wood-cut No. 1*).
Some have a small hoop behind that represented in the wood-cut.
Others wear an ornament of woven hair and hide adorned with beads.
The hair of the tails of buffaloes, which are to be found farther east,
is sometimes added. This is represented in No. 2. While others, as in No. 3,
weave their own hair on pieces of hide into the form of buffalo horns;
or, as in No. 4, make a single horn in front. The features given
are frequently met with, but they are by no means universal.
Many tattoo their bodies by inserting some black substance beneath the skin,
which leaves an elevated cicatrix about half an inch long: these are made
in the form of stars, and other figures of no particular beauty.

Chapter 23.

  Make a Detour southward -- Peculiarities of the Inhabitants --
  Scarcity of Animals -- Forests -- Geological Structure of the Country --
  Abundance and Cheapness of Food near the Chihombo -- A Slave lost --
  The Makololo Opinion of Slaveholders -- Funeral Obsequies in Cabango --
  Send a Sketch of the Country to Mr. Gabriel -- Native Information
  respecting the Kasai and Quango -- The Trade with Luba --
  Drainage of Londa -- Report of Matiamvo's Country and Government --
  Senhor Faria's Present to a Chief -- The Balonda Mode of spending Time --
  Faithless Guide -- Makololo lament the Ignorance of the Balonda --
  Eagerness of the Villagers for Trade -- Civility of a Female Chief --
  The Chief Bango and his People -- Refuse to eat Beef -- Ambition of Africans
  to have a Village -- Winters in the Interior -- Spring at Kolobeng --
  White Ants: "Never could desire to eat any thing better" --
  Young Herbage and Animals -- Valley of the Loembwe --
  The white Man a Hobgoblin -- Specimen of Quarreling --
  Eager Desire for Calico -- Want of Clothing at Kawawa's --
  Funeral Observances -- Agreeable Intercourse with Kawawa --
  His impudent Demand -- Unpleasant Parting -- Kawawa tries to prevent
  our crossing the River Kasai -- Stratagem.

We made a little detour to the southward in order to get provisions
in a cheaper market. This led us along the rivulet called Tamba,
where we found the people, who had not been visited so frequently
by the slave-traders as the rest, rather timid and very civil.
It was agreeable to get again among the uncontaminated,
and to see the natives look at us without that air of superciliousness
which is so unpleasant and common in the beaten track.
The same olive color prevailed. They file their teeth to a point,
which makes the smile of the women frightful, as it reminds one
of the grin of an alligator. The inhabitants throughout this country
exhibit as great a variety of taste as appears on the surface of society
among ourselves. Many of the men are dandies; their shoulders are always wet
with the oil dropping from their lubricated hair, and every thing about them
is ornamented in one way or another. Some thrum a musical instrument
the livelong day, and, when they wake at night, proceed at once
to their musical performance. Many of these musicians are too poor
to have iron keys to their instrument, but make them of bamboo, and persevere,
though no one hears the music but themselves. Others try to appear warlike
by never going out of their huts except with a load of bows and arrows,
or a gun ornamented with a strip of hide for every animal they have shot;
and others never go any where without a canary in a cage. Ladies may be seen
carefully tending little lap-dogs, which are intended to be eaten.
Their villages are generally in forests, and composed of groups
of irregularly-planted brown huts, with banana and cotton trees,
and tobacco growing around. There is also at every hut a high stage erected
for drying manioc roots and meal, and elevated cages to hold domestic fowls.
Round baskets are laid on the thatch of the huts for the hens to lay in,
and on the arrival of strangers, men, women, and children
ply their calling as hucksters with a great deal of noisy haggling;
all their transactions are conducted with civil banter and good temper.

My men, having the meat of the oxen which we slaughtered from time to time
for sale, were entreated to exchange it for meal; no matter how small
the pieces offered were, it gave them pleasure to deal.

The landscape around is green, with a tint of yellow, the grass long,
the paths about a foot wide, and generally worn deeply in the middle.
The tall overhanging grass, when brushed against by the feet and legs,
disturbed the lizards and mice, and occasionally a serpent,
causing a rustling among the herbage. There are not many birds;
every animal is entrapped and eaten. Gins are seen on both sides of the path
every ten or fifteen yards, for miles together. The time and labor required
to dig up moles and mice from their burrows would, if applied to cultivation,
afford food for any amount of fowls or swine, but the latter
are seldom met with.

We passed on through forests abounding in climbing-plants, many of which
are so extremely tough that a man is required to go in front with a hatchet;
and when the burdens of the carriers are caught, they are obliged
to cut the climbers with their teeth, for no amount of tugging
will make them break. The paths in all these forests are so zigzag
that a person may imagine he has traveled a distance of thirty miles,
which, when reckoned as the crow flies, may not be fifteen.

We reached the River Moamba (lat. 9d 38' S., long. 20d 13' 34" E.)
on the 7th May. This is a stream of thirty yards wide, and, like the Quilo,
Loange, Chikapa, and Loajima, contains both alligators and hippopotami.
We crossed it by means of canoes. Here, as on the slopes
down to the Quilo and Chikapa, we had an opportunity of viewing the geological
structure of the country -- a capping of ferruginous conglomerate,
which in many parts looks as if it had been melted, for the rounded nodules
resemble masses of slag, and they have a smooth scale on the surface;
but in all probability it is an aqueous deposit, for it contains
water-worn pebbles of all sorts, and generally small. Below this mass
lies a pale red hardened sandstone, and beneath that a trap-like whinstone.
Lowest of all lies a coarse-grained sandstone containing a few pebbles,
and, in connection with it, a white calcareous rock is occasionally met with,
and so are banks of loose round quartz pebbles. The slopes are longer
from the level country above the further we go eastward,
and every where we meet with circumscribed bogs on them,
surrounded by clumps of straight, lofty evergreen trees,
which look extremely graceful on a ground of yellowish grass.
Several of these bogs pour forth a solution of iron, which exhibits
on its surface the prismatic colors. The level plateaus between the rivers,
both east and west of the Moamba, across which we traveled,
were less woody than the river glens. The trees on them
are scraggy and wide apart. There are also large open grass-covered spaces,
with scarcely even a bush. On these rather dreary intervals
between the rivers it was impossible not to be painfully struck
with the absence of all animal life. Not a bird was to be seen,
except occasionally a tomtit, some of the `Sylviadae' and `Drymoica',
also a black bird (`Dicrurus Ludwigii', Smith) common throughout the country.
We were gladdened by the voice of birds only near the rivers,
and there they are neither numerous nor varied. The Senegal longclaw,
however, maintains its place, and is the largest bird seen.
We saw a butcher-bird in a trap as we passed. There are remarkably few
small animals, they having been hunted almost to extermination,
and few insects except ants, which abound in considerable number and variety.
There are scarcely any common flies to be seen, nor are we ever troubled
by mosquitoes.

The air is still, hot, and oppressive; the intensely bright sunlight
glances peacefully on the evergreen forest leaves, and all feel glad
when the path comes into the shade. The want of life in the scenery
made me long to tread again the banks of the Zambesi, and see
the graceful antelopes feeding beside the dark buffaloes and sleek elands.
Here hippopotami are known to exist only by their footprints on the banks.
Not one is ever seen to blow or put his head up at all;
they have learned to breathe in silence and keep out of sight.
We never heard one uttering the snorting sound so common on the Zambesi.

We crossed two small streams, the Kanesi and Fombeji, before reaching Cabango,
a village situated on the banks of the Chihombo. The country was becoming
more densely peopled as we proceeded, but it bears no population
compared to what it might easily sustain. Provisions were to be had
in great abundance; a fowl and basket of meal weighing 20 lbs.
were sold for a yard and a half of very inferior cotton cloth,
worth not more than threepence. An idea of the cheapness of food
may be formed from the fact that Captain Neves purchased 380 lbs. of tobacco
from the Bangalas for about two pounds sterling. This, when carried
into central Londa, might purchase seven thousand five hundred fowls,
or feed with meal and fowls seven thousand persons for one day,
giving each a fowl and 5 lbs. of meal. When food is purchased here
with either salt or coarse calico, four persons can be well fed
with animal and vegetable food at the rate of one penny a day.
The chief vegetable food is the manioc and lotsa meal.
These contain a very large proportion of starch, and, when eaten alone
for any length of time produce most distressing heartburn.
As we ourselves experienced in coming north, they also cause
a weakness of vision, which occurs in the case of animals fed
on pure gluten or amylaceous matter only. I now discovered that when
these starchy substances are eaten along with a proportion of ground-nuts,
which contain a considerable quantity of oil, no injurious effects follow.

While on the way to Cabango we saw fresh tracks of elands,
the first we had observed in this country. A poor little slave girl,
being ill, turned aside in the path, and, though we waited all the next day
making search for her, she was lost. She was tall and slender for her age,
as if of too quick growth, and probably, unable to bear the fatigue
of the march, lay down and slept in the forest, then, waking in the dark,
went farther and farther astray. The treatment of the slaves
witnessed by my men certainly did not raise slaveholders in their estimation.
Their usual exclamation was "Ga ba na pelu" (They have no heart);
and they added, with reference to the slaves, "Why do they let them?"
as if they thought that the slaves had the natural right
to rid the world of such heartless creatures, and ought to do it.
The uneasiness of the trader was continually showing itself,
and, upon the whole, he had reason to be on the alert both day and night.
The carriers perpetually stole the goods intrusted to their care,
and he could not openly accuse them, lest they should plunder him of all,
and leave him quite in the lurch. He could only hope to manage them
after getting all the remaining goods safely into a house in Cabango;
he might then deduct something from their pay for what they had purloined
on the way.

Cabango (lat. 9d 31' S., long. 20d 31' or 32' E.) is the dwelling-place
of Muanzanza, one of Matiamvo's subordinate chiefs. His village
consists of about two hundred huts and ten or twelve square houses,
constructed of poles with grass interwoven. The latter are occupied
by half-caste Portuguese from Ambaca, agents for the Cassange traders.
The cold in the mornings was now severe to the feelings,
the thermometer ranging from 58 Deg. to 60 Deg., though, when protected,
sometimes standing as high as 64 Deg. at six A.M. When the sun is well up,
the thermometer in the shade rises to 80 Deg., and in the evenings
it is about 78 Deg.

A person having died in this village, we could transact no business
with the chief until the funeral obsequies were finished. These occupy
about four days, during which there is a constant succession of dancing,
wailing, and feasting. Guns are fired by day, and drums beaten by night,
and all the relatives, dressed in fantastic caps, keep up the ceremonies
with spirit proportionate to the amount of beer and beef expended.
When there is a large expenditure, the remark is often made afterward,
"What a fine funeral that was!"  A figure, consisting chiefly
of feathers and beads, is paraded on these occasions,
and seems to be regarded as an idol.

Having met with an accident to one of my eyes by a blow from a branch
in passing through a forest, I remained some days here,
endeavoring, though with much pain, to draw a sketch of the country thus far,
to be sent back to Mr. Gabriel at Loanda. I was always anxious
to transmit an account of my discoveries on every possible occasion,
lest, any thing happening in the country to which I was going,
they should be entirely lost. I also fondly expected
a packet of letters and papers which my good angel at Loanda
would be sure to send if they came to hand, but I afterward found that,
though he had offered a large sum to any one who would return
with an assurance of having delivered the last packet he sent,
no one followed me with it to Cabango. The unwearied attentions
of this good Englishman, from his first welcome to me when,
a weary, dejected, and worn-down stranger, I arrived at his residence,
and his whole subsequent conduct, will be held in lively remembrance by me
to my dying day.

Several of the native traders here having visited the country of Luba,
lying far to the north of this, and there being some visitors also
from the town of Mai, which is situated far down the Kasai, I picked up
some information respecting those distant parts. In going to the town of Mai
the traders crossed only two large rivers, the Loajima and Chihombo.
The Kasai flows a little to the east of the town of Mai,
and near it there is a large waterfall. They describe the Kasai
as being there of very great size, and that it thence bends round to the west.
On asking an old man, who was about to return to his chief Mai,
to imagine himself standing at his home, and point to the confluence
of the Quango and Kasai, he immediately turned, and, pointing to the westward,
said, "When we travel five days (thirty-five or forty miles)
in that direction, we come to it."  He stated also that the Kasai received
another river, named the Lubilash. There is but one opinion among the Balonda
respecting the Kasai and Quango. They invariably describe the Kasai
as receiving the Quango, and, beyond the confluence, assuming the name
of Zaire or Zerezere. And the Kasai, even previous to the junction,
is much larger than the Quango, from the numerous branches it receives.
Besides those we have already crossed, there is the Chihombo at Cabango;
and forty-two miles beyond this, eastward, runs the Kasai itself;
fourteen miles beyond that, the Kaunguesi; then, forty-two miles farther east,
flows the Lolua; besides numbers of little streams, all of which contribute
to swell the Kasai.

About thirty-four miles east of the Lolua, or a hundred and thirty-two miles
E.N.E. of Cabango, stands the town of Matiamvo, the paramount chief of all
the Balonda. The town of Mai is pointed out as to the N.N.W. of Cabango,
and thirty-two days or two hundred and twenty-four miles distant,
or about lat. S. 5d 45'. The chief town of Luba, another independent chief,
is eight days farther in the same direction, or lat. S. 4d 50'. Judging from
the appearance of the people who had come for the purposes of trade from Mai,
those in the north are in quite as uncivilized a condition as the Balonda.
They are clad in a kind of cloth made of the inner bark of a tree.
Neither guns nor native traders are admitted into the country,
the chief of Luba entertaining a dread of innovation. If a native trader
goes thither, he must dress like the common people in Angola,
in a loose robe resembling a kilt. The chief trades in shells and beads only.
His people kill the elephants by means of spears, poisoned arrows, and traps.
All assert that elephants' tusks from that country are heavier
and of greater length than any others.

It is evident, from all the information I could collect
both here and elsewhere, that the drainage of Londa falls to the north
and then runs westward. The countries of Luba and Mai are evidently
lower than this, and yet this is of no great altitude --
probably not much more than 3500 feet above the level of the sea.
Having here received pretty certain information on a point
in which I felt much interest, namely, that the Kasai is not navigable
from the coast, owing to the large waterfall near the town of Mai,
and that no great kingdom exists in the region beyond,
between this and the equator, I would fain have visited Matiamvo.
This seemed a very desirable step, as it is good policy as well as right
to acknowledge the sovereign of a country; and I was assured,
both by Balonda and native traders, that a considerable branch of the Zambesi
rises in the country east of his town, and flows away to the south.
The whole of this branch, extending down even to where it turns westward
to Masiko, is probably placed too far eastward on the map.
It was put down when I believed Matiamvo and Cazembe to be farther east
than I have since seen reason to believe them. All, being derived
from native testimony, is offered to the reader with diffidence,
as needing verification by actual explorers. The people of that part,
named Kanyika and Kanyoka, living on its banks, are represented
as both numerous and friendly, but Matiamvo will on no account permit
any white person to visit them, as his principal supplies of ivory are drawn
from them. Thinking that we might descend this branch of the Zambesi
to Masiko, and thence to the Barotse, I felt a strong inclination to make
the attempt. The goods, however, we had brought with us to pay our way,
had, by the long detention from fever and weakness in both myself and men,
dwindled to a mere fragment; and, being but slightly acquainted with
the Balonda dialect, I felt that I could neither use persuasion nor presents
to effect my object. From all I could hear of Matiamvo,
there was no chance of my being allowed to proceed through his country
to the southward. If I had gone merely to visit him, all the goods
would have been expended by the time I returned to Cabango;
and we had not found mendicity so pleasant on our way to the north
as to induce us to desire to return to it.

The country of Matiamvo is said to be well peopled, but they have
little or no trade. They receive calico, salt, gunpowder,
coarse earthenware, and beads, and give in return ivory and slaves.
They possess no cattle, Matiamvo alone having a single herd, which he keeps
entirely for the sake of the flesh. The present chief is said to be mild
in his government, and will depose an under-chief for unjust conduct.
He occasionally sends the distance of a hundred miles or more
to behead an offending officer. But, though I was informed by the Portuguese
that he possesses absolute power, his name had less influence
over his subjects with whom I came in contact than that of Sekeletu has
over his people living at a much greater distance from the capital.

As we thought it best to strike away to the S.E. from Cabango
to our old friend Katema, I asked a guide from Muanzanza
as soon as the funeral proceedings were over. He agreed to furnish one,
and also accepted a smaller present from me than usual,
when it was represented to him by Pascoal and Faria that I was not a trader.
He seemed to regard these presents as his proper dues;
and as a cargo of goods had come by Senhor Pascoal, he entered the house
for the purpose of receiving his share, when Senhor Faria
gravely presented him with the commonest earthenware vessel,
of which great numbers are brought for this trade. The chief received it
with expressions of abundant gratitude, as these vessels are highly valued,
because from their depth they can hold so much food or beer.
The association of ideas is sometimes so very ludicrous that it is difficult
to maintain one's gravity.

Several of the children of the late Matiamvo came to beg from me, but never
to offer any food. Having spoken to one young man named Liula (Heavens)
about their stinginess, he soon brought bananas and manioc.
I liked his appearance and conversation, and believe that the Balonda
would not be difficult to teach, but their mode of life would be a drawback.
The Balonda in this quarter are much more agreeable-looking
than any of the inhabitants nearer the coast. The women allow their teeth
to remain in their beautifully white state, and would be comely
but for the custom of inserting pieces of reed into the cartilage of the nose.
They seem generally to be in good spirits, and spend their time
in everlasting talk, funeral ceremonies, and marriages.
This flow of animal spirits must be one reason why they are such
an indestructible race. The habitual influence on their minds
of the agency of unseen spirits may have a tendency in the same direction,
by preserving the mental quietude of a kind of fatalism.

We were forced to prepay our guide and his father too,
and he went but one day, although he promised to go with us to Katema.
He was not in the least ashamed at breaking his engagements,
and probably no disgrace will be attached to the deed by Muanzanza.
Among the Bakwains he would have been punished. My men would have
stripped him of the wages which he wore on his person, but thought that,
as we had always acted on the mildest principles, they would let him move off
with his unearned gains.

They frequently lamented the want of knowledge in these people, saying,
in their own tongue, "Ah! they don't know that we are men as well as they,
and that we are only bearing with their insolence with patience
because we are men."  Then would follow a hearty curse,
showing that the patience was nearly expended; but they seldom quarreled
in the language of the Balonda. The only one who ever lost his temper
was the man who struck a head man of one of the villages on the mouth,
and he was the most abject individual in our company.

The reason why we needed a guide at all was to secure the convenience
of a path, which, though generally no better than a sheep-walk,
is much easier than going straight in one direction, through tangled forests
and tropical vegetation. We knew the general direction we ought to follow,
and also if any deviation occurred from our proper route;
but, to avoid impassable forests and untreadable bogs, and to get to
the proper fords of the rivers, we always tried to procure a guide,
and he always followed the common path from one village to another
when that lay in the direction we were going.

After leaving Cabango on the 21st, we crossed several little streams
running into the Chihombo on our left, and in one of them
I saw tree ferns (`Cyathea dregei') for the first time in Africa.
The trunk was about four feet high and ten inches in diameter.
We saw also grass trees of two varieties, which, in damp localities,
had attained a height of forty feet. On crossing the Chihombo, which we did
about twelve miles above Cabango, we found it waist-deep and rapid.
We were delighted to see the evidences of buffalo and hippopotami
on its banks. As soon as we got away from the track of the slave-traders,
the more kindly spirit of the southern Balonda appeared,
for an old man brought a large present of food from one of the villages,
and volunteered to go as guide himself. The people, however,
of the numerous villages which we passed always made efforts to detain us,
that they might have a little trade in the way of furnishing our suppers.
At one village, indeed, they would not show us the path at all
unless we remained at least a day with them. Having refused,
we took a path in the direction we ought to go, but it led us
into an inextricable thicket. Returning to the village again,
we tried another footpath in a similar direction, but this led us into
an equally impassable and trackless forest. We were thus forced
to come back and remain. In the following morning they put us
in the proper path, which in a few hours led us through a forest
that would otherwise have taken us days to penetrate.

Beyond this forest we found the village of Nyakalonga, a sister of
the late Matiamvo, who treated us handsomely. She wished her people
to guide us to the next village, but this they declined
unless we engaged in trade. She then requested us to wait an hour or two
till she could get ready a present of meal, manioc roots,
ground-nuts, and a fowl. It was truly pleasant to meet with people
possessing some civility, after the hauteur we had experienced
on the slave-path. She sent her son to the next village
without requiring payment. The stream which ran past her village
was quite impassable there, and for a distance of about a mile on either side,
the bog being soft and shaky, and, when the crust was broken through,
about six feet deep.

On the 28th we reached the village of the chief Bango (lat. 12d 22' 53" S.,
long. 20d 58' E.), who brought us a handsome present of meal,
and the meat of an entire pallah. We here slaughtered the last of the cows
presented to us by Mr. Schut, which I had kept milked until it gave
only a teaspoonful at a time. My men enjoyed a hearty laugh
when they found that I had given up all hope of more,
for they had been talking among themselves about my perseverance.
We offered a leg of the cow to Bango, but he informed us
that neither he nor his people ever partook of beef,
as they looked upon cattle as human, and living at home like men.
None of his people purchased any of the meat, which was always eagerly done
every where else. There are several other tribes who refuse to keep cattle,
though not to eat them when offered by others, because, say they, oxen bring
enemies and war; but this is the first instance I have met with in which
they have been refused as food. The fact of killing the pallahs for food
shows that the objection does not extend to meat in general.

The little streams in this part of the country did not flow in deep dells,
nor were we troubled with the gigantic grasses which annoyed our eyes
on the slopes of the streams before we came to Cabango.
The country was quite flat, and the people cultivated manioc very extensively.
There is no large collection of the inhabitants in any one spot.
The ambition of each seems to be to have his own little village; and we see
many coming from distant parts with the flesh of buffaloes and antelopes
as the tribute claimed by Bango. We have now entered again
the country of the game, but they are so exceedingly shy
that we have not yet seen a single animal. The arrangement into many villages
pleases the Africans vastly, for every one who has a few huts under him
feels himself in some measure to be a chief. The country at this time
is covered with yellowish grass quite dry. Some of the bushes and trees
are green; others are shedding their leaves, the young buds
pushing off the old foliage. Trees, which in the south stand bare
during the winter months, have here but a short period of leaflessness.
Occasionally, however, a cold north wind comes up even as far as Cabango,
and spreads a wintry aspect on all the exposed vegetation.
The tender shoots of the evergreen trees on the south side
become as if scorched; the leaves of manioc, pumpkins, and other tender plants
are killed; while the same kinds, in spots sheltered by forests,
continue green through the whole year. All the interior of South Africa
has a distinct winter of cold, varying in intensity with the latitudes.
In the central parts of the Cape Colony the cold in the winter
is often severe, and the ground is covered with snow. At Kuruman
snow seldom falls, but the frost is keen. There is frost
even as far as the Chobe, and a partial winter in the Barotse valley,
but beyond the Orange River we never have cold and damp combined.
Indeed, a shower of rain seldom or never falls during winter, and hence
the healthiness of the Bechuana climate. From the Barotse valley northward
it is questionable if it ever freezes; but, during the prevalence
of the south wind, the thermometer sinks as low as 42 Deg.,
and conveys the impression of bitter cold.

Nothing can exceed the beauty of the change from the wintry appearance
to that of spring at Kolobeng. Previous to the commencement of the rains,
an easterly wind blows strongly by day, but dies away at night.
The clouds collect in increasing masses, and relieve in some measure
the bright glare of the southern sun. The wind dries up every thing,
and when at its greatest strength is hot, and raises clouds of dust.
The general temperature during the day rises above 96 Deg.:
then showers begin to fall; and if the ground is but once well soaked
with a good day's rain, the change produced is marvelous.
In a day or two a tinge of green is apparent all over the landscape,
and in five or six days the fresh leaves sprouting forth,
and the young grass shooting up, give an appearance of spring
which it requires weeks of a colder climate to produce. The birds,
which in the hot, dry, windy season had been silent, now burst forth
into merry twittering songs, and are busy building their nests. Some of them,
indeed, hatch several times a year. The lowering of the temperature,
by rains or other causes, has much the same effect as the increasing mildness
of our own spring. The earth teems with myriads of young insects;
in some parts of the country hundreds of centipedes, myriapedes, and beetles
emerge from their hiding-places, somewhat as our snails at home do;
and in the evenings the white ants swarm by thousands. A stream of them
is seen to rush out of a hole, and, after flying one or two hundred yards,
they descend; and if they light upon a piece of soil proper for
the commencement of a new colony, they bend up their tails,
unhook their wings, and, leaving them on the surface,
quickly begin their mining operations. If an attempt is made
to separate the wings from the body by drawing them away backward, they seem
as if hooked into the body, and tear away large portions of the insect;
but if turned forward, as the ant itself does, they snap off
with the greatest ease. Indeed, they seem formed only to serve the insect
in its short flight to a new habitation, and then to be thrown aside.
Nothing can exceed the eagerness with which, at the proper time,
they rush out from their birth-place. Occasionally this occurs in a house,
and then, in order to prevent every corner from being filled with them,
I have seen a fire placed over the orifice; but they hesitate not even
to pass through the fire. While swarming they appear like snow-flakes
floating about in the air, and dogs, cats, hawks, and almost every bird,
may be seen busily devouring them. The natives, too, profit by the occasion,
and actively collect them for food, they being about half an inch long,
as thick as a crow-quill, and very fat. When roasted they are said
to be good, and somewhat resemble grains of boiled rice.
An idea may be formed of this dish by what once occurred
on the banks of the Zouga. The Bayeiye chief Palani visiting us while eating,
I gave him a piece of bread and preserved apricots; and as he seemed
to relish it much, I asked him if he had any food equal to that
in his country. "Ah!" said he, "did you ever taste white ants?"
As I never had, he replied, "Well, if you had, you never could have desired
to eat any thing better."  The general way of catching them
is to dig into the ant-hill, and wait till the builders come forth
to repair the damage, then brush them off quickly into a vessel,
as the ant-eater does into his mouth.

The fall of the rain makes all the cattle look fresh and clean,
and both men and women proceed cheerily to their already hoed gardens,
and sow the seed. The large animals in the country leave the spots
where they had been compelled to congregate for the sake of water,
and become much wilder. Occasionally a herd of buffaloes or antelopes
smell rain from afar, and set off in a straight line toward the place.
Sometimes they make mistakes, and are obliged to return to the water
they had left.

Very large tracts of country are denuded of old grass during the winter
by means of fire, in order to attract the game to that which there springs up
unmixed with the older crop. This new herbage has a renovating tendency,
for as long as they feed on the dry grass of the former season
they continue in good condition; but no sooner are they able to indulge
their appetites on the fresh herbage, than even the marrow in their bones
becomes dissolved, and a red, soft, uneatable mass is left behind.
After this commences the work of regaining their former plumpness.

MAY 30TH. We left Bango, and proceeded to the River Loembwe,
which flows to the N.N.E., and abounds in hippopotami.
It is about sixty yards wide, and four feet deep, but usually contains
much less water than this, for there are fishing-weirs placed right across it.
Like all the African rivers in this quarter, it has morasses on each bank,
yet the valley in which it winds, when seen from the high lands above,
is extremely beautiful. This valley is about the fourth of a mile wide,
and it was easy to fancy the similarity of many spots on it
to the goodly manors in our own country, and feel assured that there was still
ample territory left for an indefinite increase of the world's population.
The villages are widely apart and difficult of access, from the paths being
so covered with tall grass that even an ox can scarcely follow the track.
The grass cuts the feet of the men; yet we met a woman with a little child,
and a girl, wending their way home with loads of manioc.
The sight of a white man always infuses a tremor into their dark bosoms,
and in every case of the kind they appeared immensely relieved
when I had fairly passed without having sprung upon them.
In the villages the dogs run away with their tails between their legs,
as if they had seen a lion. The women peer from behind the walls
till he comes near them, and then hastily dash into the house.
When a little child, unconscious of danger, meets you in the street,
he sets up a scream at the apparition, and conveys the impression
that he is not far from going into fits. Among the Bechuanas I have been
obliged to reprove the women for making a hobgoblin of the white man,
and telling their children that they would send for him to bite them.

Having passed the Loembwe, we were in a more open country,
with every few hours a small valley, through which ran a little rill
in the middle of a bog. These were always difficult to pass,
and being numerous, kept the lower part of the person constantly wet.
At different points in our course we came upon votive offerings to the Barimo.
These usually consisted of food; and every deserted village
still contained the idols and little sheds with pots of medicine in them.
One afternoon we passed a small frame house with the head of an ox in it as
an object of worship. The dreary uniformity of gloomy forests and open flats
must have a depressing influence on the minds of the people.
Some villages appear more superstitious than others, if we may judge
from the greater number of idols they contain.

Only on one occasion did we witness a specimen of quarreling.
An old woman, standing by our camp, continued to belabor
a good-looking young man for hours with her tongue. Irritated at last,
he uttered some words of impatience, when another man sprang at him,
exclaiming, "How dare you curse my `Mama'?"  They caught each other,
and a sort of pushing, dragging wrestling-match ensued.
The old woman who had been the cause of the affray wished us to interfere,
and the combatants themselves hoped as much; but we, preferring to
remain neutral, allowed them to fight it out. It ended by one falling
under the other, both, from their scuffling, being in a state of nudity.
They picked up their clothing and ran off in different directions,
each threatening to bring his gun and settle the dispute in mortal combat.
Only one, however, returned, and the old woman continued her scolding
till my men, fairly tired of her tongue, ordered her to be gone.
This trifling incident was one of interest to me, for, during the whole period
of my residence in the Bechuana country, I never saw unarmed men
strike each other. Their disputes are usually conducted with
great volubility and noisy swearing, but they generally terminate
by both parties bursting into a laugh.

At every village attempts were made to induce us to remain a night.
Sometimes large pots of beer were offered to us as a temptation.
Occasionally the head man would peremptorily order us to halt under a tree
which he pointed out. At other times young men volunteered to guide us
to the impassable part of the next bog, in the hope of bringing us to a stand,
for all are excessively eager to trade; but food was so very cheap that
we sometimes preferred paying them to keep it, and let us part in good humor.
A good-sized fowl could be had for a single charge of gunpowder.
Each native who owns a gun carries about with him a measure
capable of holding but one charge, in which he receives his powder.
Throughout this region the women are almost entirely naked,
their gowns being a patch of cloth frightfully narrow, with no flounces;
and nothing could exceed the eagerness with which they offered to purchase
strips of calico of an inferior description. They were delighted
with the large pieces we gave, though only about two feet long,
for a fowl and a basket of upward of 20 lbs. of meal. As we had now
only a small remnant of our stock, we were obliged to withstand
their importunity, and then many of their women, with true maternal feelings,
held up their little naked babies, entreating us to sell only a little rag
for them. The fire, they say, is their only clothing by night,
and the little ones derive heat by sticking closely to their parents.
Instead of a skin or cloth to carry their babies in, the women plait a belt
about four inches broad, of the inner bark of a tree, and this,
hung from the one shoulder to the opposite side, like a soldier's belt,
enables them to support the child by placing it on their side
in a sitting position. Their land is very fertile, and they can raise
ground-nuts and manioc in abundance. Here I observed no cotton,
nor any domestic animals except fowls and little dogs. The chief possessed
a few goats, and I never could get any satisfactory reason
why the people also did not rear them.

On the evening of the 2d of June we reached the village of Kawawa,
rather an important personage in these parts. This village
consists of forty or fifty huts, and is surrounded by forest.
Drums were beating over the body of a man who had died the preceding day,
and some women were making a clamorous wail at the door of his hut,
and addressing the deceased as if alive. The drums continued beating
the whole night, with as much regularity as a steam-engine thumps
on board ship. We observed that a person dressed fantastically
with a great number of feathers left the people at the dance and wailing,
and went away into the deep forest in the morning, to return again
to the obsequies in the evening; he is intended to represent
one of the Barimo.

In the morning we had agreeable intercourse with Kawawa; he visited us,
and we sat and talked nearly the whole day with him and his people.
When we visited him in return, we found him in his large court-house,
which, though of a beehive shape, was remarkably well built.
As I had shown him a number of curiosities, he now produced a jug,
of English ware, shaped like an old man holding a can of beer in his hand,
as the greatest curiosity he had to exhibit.

We had now an opportunity of hearing a case brought before him for judgment.
A poor man and his wife were accused of having bewitched the man
whose wake was now held in the village. Before Kawawa even heard the defense,
he said, "You have killed one of my children; bring all yours before me,
that I may choose which of them shall be mine instead."
The wife eloquently defended herself, but this availed little,
for these accusations are the means resorted to by some chiefs
to secure subjects for the slave-market. He probably thought
that I had come to purchase slaves, though I had already given
a pretty full explanation of my pursuits both to himself and his people.
We exhibited the pictures of the magic lantern in the evening,
and all were delighted except Kawawa himself. He showed symptoms of dread,
and several times started up as if to run away, but was prevented
by the crowd behind. Some of the more intelligent understood
the explanations well, and expatiated eloquently on them to the more obtuse.
Nothing could exceed the civilities which had passed between us
during this day; but Kawawa had heard that the Chiboque had forced us
to pay an ox, and now thought he might do the same. When, therefore,
I sent next morning to let him know that we were ready to start,
he replied in his figurative way, "If an ox came in the way of a man,
ought he not to eat it? I had given one to the Chiboque,
and must give him the same, together with a gun, gunpowder, and a black robe,
like that he had seen spread out to dry the day before; that, if I refused
an ox, I must give one of my men, and a book by which he might see
the state of Matiamvo's heart toward him, and which would forewarn him,
should Matiamvo ever resolve to cut off his head."  Kawawa came
in the coolest manner possible to our encampment after sending this message,
and told me he had seen all our goods, and must have all he asked,
as he had command of the Kasai in our front, and would prevent us
from passing it unless we paid this tribute. I replied that the goods
were my property and not his; that I would never have it said that a white man
had paid tribute to a black, and that I should cross the Kasai
in spite of him. He ordered his people to arm themselves,
and when some of my men saw them rushing for their bows, arrows, and spears,
they became somewhat panic-stricken. I ordered them to move away,
and not to fire unless Kawawa's people struck the first blow.
I took the lead, and expected them all to follow, as they usually had done,
but many of my men remained behind. When I knew this, I jumped off the ox,
and made a rush to them with the revolver in my hand. Kawawa ran away
among his people, and they turned their backs too. I shouted to my men
to take up their luggage and march; some did so with alacrity,
feeling that they had disobeyed orders by remaining; but one of them refused,
and was preparing to fire at Kawawa, until I gave him a punch on the head
with the pistol, and made him go too. I felt here, as elsewhere,
that subordination must be maintained at all risks. We all moved
into the forest, the people of Kawawa standing about a hundred yards off,
gazing, but not firing a shot or an arrow. It is extremely unpleasant
to part with these chieftains thus, after spending a day or two
in the most amicable intercourse, and in a part where the people
are generally civil. This Kawawa, however, is not a good specimen
of the Balonda chiefs, and is rather notorious in the neighborhood
for his folly. We were told that he has good reason to believe that Matiamvo
will some day cut off his head for his disregard of the rights of strangers.

Kawawa was not to be balked of his supposed rights by the unceremonious way
in which we had left him; for, when we had reached the ford of the Kasai,
about ten miles distant, we found that he had sent four of his men,
with orders to the ferrymen to refuse us passage. We were here
duly informed that we must deliver up all the articles mentioned,
and one of our men besides. This demand for one of our number
always nettled every heart. The canoes were taken away before our eyes,
and we were supposed to be quite helpless without them, at a river
a good hundred yards broad, and very deep. Pitsane stood on the bank,
gazing with apparent indifference on the stream, and made
an accurate observation of where the canoes were hidden among the reeds.
The ferrymen casually asked one of my Batoka if they had rivers
in his country, and he answered with truth, "No, we have none."
Kawawa's people then felt sure we could not cross. I thought of swimming
when they were gone; but after it was dark, by the unasked loan
of one of the hidden canoes, we soon were snug in our bivouac
on the southern bank of the Kasai. I left some beads as payment for some meal
which had been presented by the ferrymen; and, the canoe having been left
on their own side of the river, Pitsane and his companions
laughed uproariously at the disgust our enemies would feel,
and their perplexity as to who had been our paddler across.
They were quite sure that Kawawa would imagine that we had been ferried over
by his own people, and would be divining to find out who had done the deed.
When ready to depart in the morning, Kawawa's people appeared
on the opposite heights, and could scarcely believe their eyes
when they saw us prepared to start away to the south. At last one of them
called out, "Ah! ye are bad," to which Pitsane and his companions retorted,
"Ah! ye are good, and we thank you for the loan of your canoe."
We were careful to explain the whole of the circumstances to Katema
and the other chiefs, and they all agreed that we were perfectly justifiable
under the circumstances, and that Matiamvo would approve our conduct.
When any thing that might bear an unfavorable construction
happens among themselves, they send explanations to each other.
The mere fact of doing so prevents them from losing their character,
for there is public opinion even among them.

Chapter 24.

  Level Plains -- Vultures and other Birds -- Diversity of Color in Flowers
  of the same Species -- The Sundew -- Twenty-seventh Attack of Fever --
  A River which flows in opposite Directions -- Lake Dilolo the Watershed
  between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans -- Position of Rocks --
  Sir Roderick Murchison's Explanation -- Characteristics of the Rainy Season
  in connection with the Floods of the Zambesi and the Nile --
  Probable Reason of Difference in Amount of Rain South and North
  of the Equator -- Arab Reports of Region east of Londa --
  Probable Watershed of the Zambesi and the Nile -- Lake Dilolo --
  Reach Katema's Town: his renewed Hospitality; desire to appear
  like a White Man; ludicrous Departure -- Jackdaws --
  Ford southern Branch of Lake Dilolo -- Small Fish -- Project for
  a Makololo Village near the Confluence of the Leeba and the Leeambye --
  Hearty Welcome from Shinte -- Kolimbota's Wound --
  Plant-seeds and Fruit-trees brought from Angola --
  Masiko and Limboa's Quarrel -- Nyamoana now a Widow --
  Purchase Canoes and descend the Leeba -- Herds of wild Animals on its Banks
  -- Unsuccessful Buffalo-hunt -- Frogs -- Sinbad and the Tsetse --
  Dispatch a Message to Manenko -- Arrival of her Husband Sambanza --
  The Ceremony called Kasendi -- Unexpected Fee for performing
  a surgical Operation -- Social Condition of the Tribes --
  Desertion of Mboenga -- Stratagem of Mambowe Hunters -- Water-turtles --
  Charged by a Buffalo -- Reception from the People of Libonta --
  Explain the Causes of our long Delay -- Pitsane's Speech --
  Thanksgiving Services -- Appearance of my "Braves" --
  Wonderful Kindness of the People.

After leaving the Kasai, we entered upon the extensive level plains
which we had formerly found in a flooded condition. The water on them
was not yet dried up, as it still remained in certain hollow spots.
Vultures were seen floating in the air, showing that carrion was to be found;
and, indeed, we saw several of the large game, but so exceedingly wild
as to be unapproachable. Numbers of caterpillars mounted the stalks of grass,
and many dragonflies and butterflies appeared, though this was winter.
The caprimulgus or goat-sucker, swifts, and different kinds of swallows,
with a fiery-red bee-eater in flocks, showed that the lowest temperature here
does not destroy the insects on which they feed. Jet-black larks,
with yellow shoulders, enliven the mornings with their songs,
but they do not continue so long on the wing as ours, nor soar so high.
We saw many of the pretty white ardea, and other water-birds,
flying over the spots not yet dried up; and occasionally wild ducks,
but these only in numbers sufficient to remind us that we were approaching
the Zambesi, where every water-fowl has a home.

While passing across these interminable-looking plains,
the eye rests with pleasure on a small flower, which exists in such numbers
as to give its own hue to the ground. One broad band of yellow
stretches across our path. On looking at the flowers which formed
this golden carpet, we saw every variety of that color, from the palest lemon
to the richest orange. Crossing a hundred yards of this,
we came upon another broad band of the same flower, but blue,
and this color is varied from the lightest tint to dark blue, and even purple.
I had before observed the same flower possessing different colors in different
parts of the country, and once a great number of liver-colored flowers,
which elsewhere were yellow. Even the color of the birds changed
with the district we passed through; but never before did I see
such a marked change as from yellow to blue, repeated again and again
on the same plain. Another beautiful plant attracted my attention
so strongly on these plains that I dismounted to examine it.
To my great delight I found it to be an old home acquaintance,
a species of Drosera, closely resembling our own sundew (`Drosera Anglia').
The flower-stalk never attains a height of more than two or three inches,
and the leaves are covered with reddish hairs, each of which
has a drop of clammy fluid at its tip, making the whole appear
as if spangled over with small diamonds. I noticed it first in the morning,
and imagined the appearance was caused by the sun shining on drops of dew;
but, as it continued to maintain its brilliancy during the heat of the day,
I proceeded to investigate the cause of its beauty, and found
that the points of the hairs exuded pure liquid, in, apparently,
capsules of clear, glutinous matter. They were thus like dewdrops
preserved from evaporation. The clammy fluid is intended to entrap insects,
which, dying on the leaf, probably yield nutriment to the plant.

During our second day on this extensive plain I suffered from
my twenty-seventh attack of fever, at a part where no surface-water
was to be found. We never thought it necessary to carry water with us
in this region; and now, when I was quite unable to move on,
my men soon found water to allay my burning thirst by digging with sticks
a few feet beneath the surface. We had thus an opportunity of observing
the state of these remarkable plains at different seasons of the year.
Next day we pursued our way, and on the 8th of June we forded the Lotembwa
to the N.W. of Dilolo, and regained our former path.

The Lotembwa here is about a mile wide, about three feet deep,
and full of the lotus, papyrus, arum, mat-rushes, and other aquatic plants.
I did not observe the course in which the water flowed while crossing;
but, having noticed before that the Lotembwa on the other side
of the Lake Dilolo flowed in a southerly direction, I supposed
that this was simply a prolongation of the same river beyond Dilolo,
and that it rose in this large marsh, which we had not seen
in our progress to the N.W. But when we came to the Southern Lotembwa,
we were informed by Shakatwala that the river we had crossed
flowed in an opposite direction -- not into Dilolo, but into the Kasai.
This phenomenon of a river running in opposite directions
struck even his mind as strange; and, though I did not observe the current,
simply from taking it for granted that it was toward the lake,
I have no doubt that his assertion, corroborated as it was by others,
is correct, and that the Dilolo is actually the watershed between
the river systems that flow to the east and west.

I would have returned in order to examine more carefully
this most interesting point, but, having had my lower extremities chilled
in crossing the Northern Lotembwa, I was seized with vomiting of blood,
and, besides, saw no reason to doubt the native testimony.
The distance between Dilolo and the valleys leading to that of the Kasai
is not more than fifteen miles, and the plains between are perfectly level;
and, had I returned, I should only have found that this little lake Dilolo,
by giving a portion to the Kasai and another to the Zambesi,
distributes its waters to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. I state the fact
exactly as it opened to my own mind, for it was only now that I apprehended
the true form of the river systems and continent. I had seen the various
rivers of this country on the western side flowing from the subtending ridges
into the centre, and had received information from natives and Arabs
that most of the rivers on the eastern side of the same great region
took a somewhat similar course from an elevated ridge there,
and that all united in two main drains, the one flowing to the north
and the other to the south, and that the northern drain found its way out
by the Congo to the west, and the southern by the Zambesi to the east.
I was thus on the watershed, or highest point of these two great systems,
but still not more than 4000 feet above the level of the sea,
and 1000 feet lower than the top of the western ridge we had already crossed;
yet, instead of lofty snow-clad mountains appearing to verify
the conjectures of the speculative, we had extensive plains,
over which one may travel a month without seeing any thing higher
than an ant-hill or a tree. I was not then aware that any one else
had discovered the elevated trough form of the centre of Africa.

I had observed that the old schistose rocks on the sides dipped in
toward the centre of the country, and their strike nearly corresponded
with the major axis of the continent; and also that where
the later erupted trap rocks had been spread out in tabular masses
over the central plateau, they had borne angular fragments of the older rocks
in their substance; but the partial generalization which the observations
led to was, that great volcanic action had taken place in ancient times,
somewhat in the same way it does now, at distances of not more than
three hundred miles from the sea, and that this igneous action,
extending along both sides of the continent, had tilted up the lateral rocks
in the manner they are now seen to lie. The greater energy
and more extended range of igneous action in those very remote periods
when Africa was formed, embracing all the flanks, imparted to it
its present very simple literal outline. This was the length
to which I had come.

The trap rocks, which now constitute the "filling up" of the great valley,
were always a puzzle to me till favored with Sir Roderick Murchison's
explanation of the original form of the continent, for then
I could see clearly why these trap rocks, which still lie
in a perfectly horizontal position on extensive areas, held in their substance
angular fragments, containing algae of the old schists,
which form the bottom of the original lacustrine basin: the traps,
in bursting through, had broken them off and preserved them.
There are, besides, ranges of hills in the central parts,
composed of clay and sandstone schists, with the ripple mark distinct,
in which no fossils appear; but as they are usually tilted away
from the masses of horizontal trap, it is probable that they too
were a portion of the original bottom, and fossils may yet be found in them.*

--
* After dwelling upon the geological structure of the Cape Colony
  as developed by Mr. A. Bain, and the existence in very remote periods
  of lacustrine conditions in the central part of South Africa,
  as proved by fresh-water and terrestrial fossils, Sir Roderick Murchison
  thus writes:

  "Such as South Africa is now, such have been her main features
  during countless past ages anterior to the creation of the human race;
  for the old rocks which form her outer fringe unquestionably circled round
  an interior marshy or lacustrine country, in which the Dicynodon flourished,
  at a time when not a single animal was similar to any living thing
  which now inhabits the surface of our globe. The present
  central and meridian zone of waters, whether lakes or marshes,
  extending from Lake Tchad to Lake 'Ngami, with hippopotami on their banks,
  are therefore but the great modern residual geographical phenomena
  of those of a mesozoic age. The differences, however,
  between the geological past of Africa and her present state are enormous.
  Since that primeval time, the lands have been much elevated
  above the sea-level -- eruptive rocks piercing in parts through them;
  deep rents and defiles have been suddenly formed in the subtending ridges
  through which some rivers escape outward.

  "Travelers will eventually ascertain whether the basin-shaped structure,
  which is here announced as having been the great feature
  of the most ancient, as it is of the actual geography of South Africa
  (i.e., from primeval times to the present day), does, or does not,
  extend into Northern Africa. Looking at that much broader portion
  of the continent, we have some reason to surmise that the higher mountains
  also form, in a general sense, its flanks only."  -- President's Address,
  Royal Geographical Society, 1852, p. cxxiii.
--

The characteristics of the rainy season in this wonderfully humid region
may account in some measure for the periodical floods of the Zambesi,
and perhaps the Nile. The rains seem to follow the course of the sun,
for they fall in October and November, when the sun passes over this zone
on his way south. On reaching the tropic of Capricorn in December, it is dry;
and December and January are the months in which injurious droughts
are most dreaded near that tropic (from Kolobeng to Linyanti).
As he returns again to the north in February, March, and April, we have
the great rains of the year; and the plains, which in October and November
were well moistened, and imbibed rain like sponges, now become supersaturated,
and pour forth those floods of clear water which inundate
the banks of the Zambesi. Somewhat the same phenomenon probably causes
the periodical inundations of the Nile. The two rivers rise
in the same region; but there is a difference in the period of flood,
possibly from their being on opposite sides of the equator.
The waters of the Nile are said to become turbid in June;
and the flood attains its greatest height in August, or the period
when we may suppose the supersaturation to occur. The subject is worthy
the investigation of those who may examine the region
between the equator and 10 Deg. S.; for the Nile does not show much increase
when the sun is at its farthest point north, or tropic of Cancer,
but at the time of its returning to the equator, exactly as in the other case
when he is on Capricorn, and the Zambesi is affected.*

--
* The above is from my own observation, together with information
  derived from the Portuguese in the interior of Angola; and I may add
  that the result of many years' observation by Messrs. Gabriel and Brand
  at Loanda, on the west coast, is in accordance therewith.
  It rains there between the 1st and 30th of November,
  but January and December are usually both warm and dry.
  The heavier rains commence about the 1st of February,
  and last until the 15th of May. Then no rain falls
  between the 20th of May and the 1st of November. The rain averages
  from 12 to 15 inches per annum. In 1852 it was 12.034 inches;
  in 1853, 15.473 inches. Although I had no means of measuring
  the amount of rain which fell in Londa, I feel certain
  that the annual quantity exceeds very much that which falls on the coast,
  because for a long time we noticed that every dawn was marked
  by a deluging shower, which began without warning-drops or thunder.
  I observed that the rain ceased suddenly on the 28th of April,
  and the lesser rains commenced about a fortnight before
  the beginning of November.
--

From information derived from Arabs of Zanzibar, whom I met at Naliele
in the middle of the country, the region to the east of the parts of Londa
over which we have traveled resembles them in its conformation.
They report swampy steppes, some of which have no trees,
where the inhabitants use grass, and stalks of native corn, for fuel.
A large shallow lake is also pointed out in that direction,
named Tanganyenka, which requires three days for crossing in canoes.
It is connected with another named Kalagwe (Garague?), farther north,
and may be the Nyanja of the Maravim. From this lake is derived, by numerous
small streams, the River Loapula, the eastern branch of the Zambesi,
which, coming from the N.E., flows past the town of Cazembe.

The southern end of this lake is ten days northeast of the town of Cazembe;
and as that is probably more than five days from Shinte,
we can not have been nearer to it than 150 miles. Probably this lake
is the watershed between the Zambesi and the Nile, as Lake Dilolo
is that between the Leeba and Kasai. But, however this may be,
the phenomena of the rainy season show that it is not necessary to assume
the existence of high snowy mountains until we get reliable information.
This, it is to be hoped, will be one of the results of the researches
of Captain Burton in his present journey.

The original valley formation of the continent determined
the northern and southern course of the Zambesi in the centre,
and also of the ancient river which once flowed from the Linyanti basin
to the Orange River. It also gave direction to the southern and northern flow
of the Kasai and the Nile. We find that between the latitudes,
say 6 Deg. and 12 Deg. S., from which, in all probability,
the head waters of those rivers diverge, there is a sort of elevated partition
in the great longitudinal valley. Presuming on the correctness
of the native information, which places the humid region to which
the Nile and Zambesi probably owe their origin within the latitudes indicated,
why does so much more rain fall there than in the same latitudes
north of the equator? Why does Darfur not give rise to great rivers,
like Londa and the country east of it? The prevailing winds in the ocean
opposite the territory pointed out are said to be from the N.E. and S.E.
during a great part of the year; they extend their currents
on one side at least of the equator quite beyond the middle of the continent,
and even until in Angola they meet the sea-breeze from the Atlantic.
If the reader remembers the explanation given at page 109,*
that the comparative want of rain on the Kalahari Desert is caused
by the mass of air losing its humidity as it passes up and glides over
the subtending ridge, and will turn to the map, he may perceive
that the same cause is in operation in an intense degree
by the mountains of Abyssinia to render the region about Darfur
still more arid, and that the flanking ranges mentioned
lie much nearer the equator than those which rob the Kalahari of humidity.
The Nile, even while running through a part of that region,
receives remarkably few branches. Observing also that there is
no known abrupt lateral mountain-range between 6 Deg. and 12 Deg. S.,
but that there is an elevated partition there, and that
the southing and northing of the southeasters and northeasters
probably cause a confluence of the two great atmospheric currents,
he will perceive an accumulation of humidity on the flanks and crown
of the partition, instead of, as elsewhere, opposite the Kalahari and Darfur,
a deposition of the atmospheric moisture on the eastern slopes
of the subtending ridges. This explanation is offered with all deference
to those who have made meteorology their special study,
and as a hint to travelers who may have opportunity to examine the subject
more fully. I often observed, while on a portion of the partition,
that the air by night was generally quite still, but as soon as the sun's rays
began to shoot across the upper strata of the atmosphere in the early morning,
a copious discharge came suddenly down from the accumulated clouds.
It always reminded me of the experiment of putting a rod
into a saturated solution of a certain salt, causing instant crystallization.
This, too, was the period when I often observed the greatest amount of cold.

--
* Since the explanation in page 109 [Chapter 5 Paragraph 5] was printed,
  I have been pleased to see the same explanation given
  by the popular astronomer and natural philosopher, M. Babinet,
  in reference to the climate of France. It is quoted from
  a letter of a correspondent of the `Times' in Paris:

  "In the normal meteorological state of France and Europe,
  the west wind, which is the counter-current of the trade-winds
  that constantly blow from the east under the tropics --
  the west wind, I say, after having touched France and Europe
  by the western shores, re-descends by Marseilles and the Mediterranean,
  Constantinople and the Archipelago, Astrakan and the Caspian Sea,
  in order to merge again into the great circuit of the general winds,
  and be thus carried again into the equatorial current.
  Whenever these masses of air, impregnated with humidity
  during their passage over the ocean, meet with an obstacle,
  such as a chain of mountains, for example, they slide up the acclivity,
  and, when they reach the crest, find themselves relieved
  from a portion of the column of air which pressed upon them.
  Thus, dilating by reason of their elasticity, they cause
  a considerable degree of cold, and a precipitation of humidity
  in the form of fogs, clouds, rain, or snow. A similar effect occurs
  whatever be the obstacle they find in their way. Now this is what
  had gradually taken place before 1856. By some cause or other connected
  with the currents of the atmosphere, the warm current from the west
  had annually ascended northward, so that, instead of passing through France,
  it came from the Baltic and the north of Germany, thus momentarily
  disturbing the ordinary law of the temperatures of Europe.
  But in 1856 a sudden change occurred. The western current again passed,
  as before, through the centre of France. It met with an obstacle in the air
  which had not yet found its usual outlet toward the west and south.
  Hence a stoppage, a rising, a consequent dilation and fall of temperature,
  extraordinary rains and inundations. But, now that the natural
  state of things is restored, nothing appears to prognosticate
  the return of similar disasters. Were the western current
  found annually to move further north, we might again experience
  meteorological effects similar to those of 1856. Hence the regular seasons
  may be considered re-established in France for several years to come.
  The important meteorological communications which the Imperial Observatory
  is daily establishing with the other countries of Europe,
  and the introduction of apparatus for measuring the velocity
  of the aerial currents and prevailing winds, will soon afford prognostics
  sufficiently certain to enable an enlightened government to provide in time
  against future evils."
--

After crossing the Northern Lotembwa we met a party of the people of Kangenke,
who had treated us kindly on our way to the north, and sent him
a robe of striped calico, with an explanation of the reason
for not returning through his village. We then went on to the Lake Dilolo.
It is a fine sheet of water, six or eight miles long, and one or two broad,
and somewhat of a triangular shape. A branch proceeds from one of the angles,
and flows into the Southern Lotembwa. Though laboring under fever,
the sight of the blue waters, and the waves lashing the shore,
had a most soothing influence on the mind, after so much of lifeless, flat,
and gloomy forest. The heart yearned for the vivid impressions which
are always created by the sight of the broad expanse of the grand old ocean.
That has life in it; but the flat uniformities over which we had roamed
made me feel as if buried alive. We found Moene Dilolo (Lord of the Lake)
a fat, jolly fellow, who lamented that when they had no strangers they had
plenty of beer, and always none when they came. He gave us a handsome present
of meal and putrid buffalo's flesh. Meat can not be too far gone for them,
as it is used only in small quantities, as a sauce to their tasteless manioc.
They were at this time hunting antelopes, in order to send the skins
as a tribute to Matiamvo. Great quantities of fish are caught in the lake;
and numbers of young water-fowl are now found in the nests among the reeds.

Our progress had always been slow, and I found that our rate of traveling
could only be five hours a day for five successive days. On the sixth,
both men and oxen showed symptoms of knocking up. We never exceeded
two and a half or three miles an hour in a straight line,
though all were anxious to get home. The difference in the rate of traveling
between ourselves and the slave-traders was our having a rather quicker step,
a longer day's journey, and twenty traveling days a month
instead of their ten. When one of my men became ill, but still could walk,
others parted his luggage among them; yet we had often to stop one day a week,
besides Sundays, simply for the sake of rest. The latitude of Lake Dilolo
is 11d 32' 1" S., long. 22d 27' E.

JUNE 14TH. We reached the collection of straggling villages
over which Katema rules, and were thankful to see old familiar faces again.
Shakatwala performed the part of a chief by bringing forth
abundant supplies of food in his master's name. He informed us
that Katema, too, was out hunting skins for Matiamvo.

In different parts of this country, we remarked that when old friends
were inquired for, the reply was, "Ba hola" (They are getting better);
or if the people of a village were inquired for, the answer was,
"They are recovering," as if sickness was quite a common thing.
Indeed, many with whom we had made acquaintance in going north we now found
were in their graves. On the 15th Katema came home from his hunting,
having heard of our arrival. He desired me to rest myself and eat abundantly,
for, being a great man, I must feel tired; and he took good care
to give the means of doing so. All the people in these parts are
exceedingly kind and liberal with their food, and Katema was not behindhand.
When he visited our encampment, I presented him with a cloak of red baize,
ornamented with gold tinsel, which cost thirty shillings,
according to the promise I had made in going to Londa; also a cotton robe,
both large and small beads, an iron spoon, and a tin pannikin
containing a quarter of a pound of powder. He seemed greatly pleased
with the liberality shown, and assured me that the way was mine,
and that no one should molest me in it if he could help it.
We were informed by Shakatwala that the chief never used any part of a present
before making an offer of it to his mother, or the departed spirit
to whom he prayed. Katema asked if I could not make a dress for him
like the one I wore, so that he might appear as a white man
when any stranger visited him. One of the councilors, imagining that
he ought to second this by begging, Katema checked him by saying,
"Whatever strangers give, be it little or much, I always receive it
with thankfulness, and never trouble them for more."  On departing,
he mounted on the shoulders of his spokesman, as the most dignified
mode of retiring. The spokesman being a slender man, and the chief
six feet high, and stout in proportion, there would have been a break-down
had he not been accustomed to it. We were very much pleased with Katema;
and next day he presented us with a cow, that we might enjoy
the abundant supplies of meal he had given with good animal food.
He then departed for the hunting-ground, after assuring me that the town
and every thing in it were mine, and that his factotum, Shakatwala,
would remain and attend to every want, and also conduct us to the Leeba.

On attempting to slaughter the cow Katema had given, we found the herd
as wild as buffaloes; and one of my men having only wounded it,
they fled many miles into the forest, and were with great difficulty
brought back. Even the herdsman was afraid to go near them.
The majority of them were white, and they were all beautiful animals.
After hunting it for two days it was dispatched at last by another ball.
Here we saw a flock of jackdaws, a rare sight in Londa, busy with the grubs
in the valley, which are eaten by the people too.

Leaving Katema's town on the 19th, and proceeding four miles to the eastward,
we forded the southern branch of Lake Dilolo. We found it
a mile and a quarter broad; and, as it flows into the Lotembwa,
the lake would seem to be a drain of the surrounding flats,
and to partake of the character of a fountain. The ford was waist-deep,
and very difficult, from the masses of arum and rushes
through which we waded. Going to the eastward about three miles,
we came to the Southern Lotembwa itself, running in a valley two miles broad.
It is here eighty or ninety yards wide, and contains numerous islands
covered with dense sylvan vegetation. In the rainy season the valley
is flooded, and as the waters dry up great multitudes of fish are caught.
This happens very extensively over the country, and fishing-weirs are met with
every where. A species of small fish, about the size of the minnow,
is caught in bagfuls and dried in the sun. The taste is a pungent
aromatic bitter, and it was partaken of freely by my people, although they
had never met with it before. On many of the paths which had been flooded
a nasty sort of slime of decayed vegetable matter is left behind,
and much sickness prevails during the drying up of the water.
We did not find our friend Mozinkwa at his pleasant home on the Lokaloeje;
his wife was dead, and he had removed elsewhere. He followed us
some distance, but our reappearance seemed to stir up his sorrows.
We found the pontoon at the village in which we left it.
It had been carefully preserved, but a mouse had eaten a hole in it
and rendered it useless.

We traversed the extended plain on the north bank of the Leeba,
and crossed this river a little farther on at Kanyonke's village,
which is about twenty miles west of the Peri hills, our former ford.
The first stage beyond the Leeba was at the rivulet Loamba,
by the village of Chebende, nephew of Shinte; and next day
we met Chebende himself returning from the funeral of Samoana, his father.
He was thin and haggard-looking compared to what he had been before,
the probable effect of the orgies in which he had been engaged.
Pitsane and Mohorisi, having concocted the project of a Makololo village
on the banks of the Leeba, as an approach to the white man's market,
spoke to Chebende, as an influential man, on the subject,
but he cautiously avoided expressing an opinion. The idea which had sprung up
in their own minds of an establishment somewhere near the confluence
of the Leeba and Leeambye, commended itself to my judgment at the time
as a geographically suitable point for civilization and commerce.
The right bank of the Leeba there is never flooded; and from that point
there is communication by means of canoes to the country of the Kanyika,
and also to Cazembe and beyond, with but one or two large waterfalls between.
There is no obstruction down to the Barotse valley; and there is probably
canoe navigation down the Kafue or Bashukulompo River, though it is reported
to contain many cataracts. It flows through a fertile country,
well peopled with Bamasasa, who cultivate the native produce largely.

As this was the middle of winter, it may be mentioned
that the temperature of the water in the morning was 47 Deg.,
and that of the air 50 Deg., which, being loaded with moisture,
was very cold to the feelings. Yet the sun was very hot by day,
and the temperature in the coolest shade from 88 Deg. to 90 Deg.;
in the evenings from 76 Deg. to 78 Deg.

Before reaching the town of Shinte we passed through many large villages
of the Balobale, who have fled from the chief Kangenke. The Mambari from Bihe
come constantly to him for trade; and, as he sells his people,
great numbers of them escape to Shinte and Katema, who refuse to give them up.

We reached our friend Shinte, and received a hearty welcome
from this friendly old man, and abundant provisions of the best he had.
On hearing the report of the journey given by my companions,
and receiving a piece of cotton cloth about two yards square,
he said, "These Mambari cheat us by bringing little pieces only;
but the next time you pass I shall send men with you to trade for me
in Loanda."  When I explained the use made of the slaves he sold,
and that he was just destroying his own tribe by selling his people,
and enlarging that of the Mambari for the sake of these small pieces of cloth,
it seemed to him quite a new idea. He entered into a long detail
of his troubles with Masiko, who had prevented him from cultivating
that friendship with the Makololo which I had inculcated,
and had even plundered the messengers he had sent with Kolimbota
to the Barotse valley. Shinte was particularly anxious to explain
that Kolimbota had remained after my departure of his own accord,
and that he had engaged in the quarrels of the country without being invited;
that, in attempting to capture one of the children of a Balobale man,
who had offended the Balonda by taking honey from a hive
which did not belong to him, Kolimbota had got wounded by a shot in the thigh,
but that he had cured the wound, given him a wife, and sent
a present of cloth to Sekeletu, with a full account of the whole affair.
From the statement of Shinte we found that Kolimbota had learned,
before we left his town, that the way we intended to take was so dangerous
that it would be better for him to leave us to our fate;
and, as he had taken one of our canoes with him, it seemed evident
that he did not expect us to return. Shinte, however, sent a recommendation
to his sister Nyamoana to furnish as many canoes as we should need
for our descent of the Leeba and Leeambye.

As I had been desirous of introducing some of the fruit-trees of Angola,
both for my own sake and that of the inhabitants, we had carried
a pot containing a little plantation of orange, cashew-trees,
custard-apple-trees (`anona'), and a fig-tree, with coffee,
aracas (`Araca pomifera'), and papaws (`Carica papaya'). Fearing that,
if we took them farther south at present, they might be killed by the cold,
we planted them out in an inclosure of one of Shinte's principal men,
and, at his request, promised to give Shinte a share when grown.
They know the value of fruits, but at present have none except wild ones.
A wild fruit we frequently met with in Londa is eatable,
and, when boiled, yields a large quantity of oil, which is much used
in anointing both head and body. He eagerly accepted
some of the seeds of the palm-oil-tree (`Elaeis Guineensis'),
when told that this would produce oil in much greater quantity
than their native tree, which is not a palm. There are very few palm-trees
in this country, but near Bango we saw a few of a peculiar palm,
the ends of the leaf-stalks of which remain attached to the trunk,
giving it a triangular shape.

It is pleasant to observe that all the tribes in Central Africa
are fond of agriculture. My men had collected quantities of seeds in Angola,
and now distributed them among their friends. Some even carried onions,
garlic, and bird's-eye pepper, growing in pannikins. The courts
of the Balonda, planted with tobacco, sugar-cane, and plants used as relishes,
led me to the belief that care would be taken of my little nursery.

The thermometer early in the mornings ranged from 42 Deg. to 52 Deg.,
at noon 94 Deg. to 96 Deg., and in the evening about 70 Deg. It was placed
in the shade of my tent, which was pitched under the thickest tree
we could find. The sensation of cold, after the heat of the day,
was very keen. The Balonda at this season never leave their fires
till nine or ten in the morning. As the cold was so great here,
it was probably frosty at Linyanti; I therefore feared
to expose my young trees there. The latitude of Shinte's town
is 12d 37' 35" S., longitude 22d 47' E.

We remained with Shinte till the 6th of July, he being unwilling
to allow us to depart before hearing in a formal manner,
in the presence of his greatest councilor Chebende, a message from Limboa,
the brother of Masiko. When Masiko fled from the Makololo country
in consequence of a dislike of being in a state of subjection to Sebituane,
he came into the territory of Shinte, who received him kindly,
and sent orders to all the villages in his vicinity to supply him with food.
Limboa fled in a westerly direction with a number of people,
and also became a chief. His country was sometimes called Nyenko,
but by the Mambari and native Portuguese traders "Mboela" -- the place
where they "turned again", or back. As one of the fruits of polygamy,
the children of different mothers are always in a state of variance.
Each son endeavors to gain the ascendency by enticing away
the followers of the others. The mother of Limboa being of a high family,
he felt aggrieved because the situation chosen by Masiko was better than his.
Masiko lived at a convenient distance from the Saloisho hills,
where there is abundance of iron ore, with which the inhabitants
manufacture hoes, knives, etc. They are also skillful
in making wooden vessels. Limboa felt annoyed because he was obliged
to apply for these articles through his brother, whom he regarded
as his inferior, and accordingly resolved to come into the same district.
As this was looked upon as an assertion of superiority
which Masiko would resist, it was virtually a declaration of war.
Both Masiko and Shinte pleaded my injunction to live in peace and friendship,
but Limboa, confident of success, now sent the message which I was
about to hear -- "That he, too, highly approved of the `word' I had given,
but would only for once transgress a little, and live at peace
for ever afterward."  He now desired the aid of Shinte to subdue his brother.
Messengers came from Masiko at the same time, desiring assistance
to repel him. Shinte felt inclined to aid Limboa, but,
as he had advised them both to wait till I came, I now urged him
to let the quarrel alone, and he took my advice.

We parted on the best possible terms with our friend Shinte,
and proceeded by our former path to the village of his sister Nyamoana,
who is now a widow. She received us with much apparent feeling, and said,
"We had removed from our former abode to the place where you found us,
and had no idea then that it was the spot where my husband was to die."
She had come to the River Lofuje, as they never remain in a place
where death has once visited them. We received the loan of five small canoes
from her, and also one of those we had left here before, to proceed
down the Leeba. After viewing the Coanza at Massangano, I thought the Leeba
at least a third larger, and upward of two hundred yards wide.
We saw evidence of its rise during its last flood having been
upward of forty feet in perpendicular height; but this is probably
more than usual, as the amount of rain was above the average.
My companions purchased also a number of canoes from the Balonda.
These are very small, and can carry only two persons.
They are made quite thin and light, and as sharp as racing-skiffs,
because they are used in hunting animals in the water.
The price paid was a string of beads equal to the length of the canoe.
We advised them to bring canoes for sale to the Makololo,
as they would gladly give them cows in exchange.

In descending the Leeba we saw many herds of wild animals,
especially the tahetsi (`Aigoceros equina'), one magnificent antelope,
the putokuane (`Antilope niger'), and two fine lions. The Balobale, however,
are getting well supplied with guns, and will soon thin out the large game.
At one of the villages we were entreated to attack some buffaloes
which grazed in the gardens every night and destroyed the manioc.
As we had had no success in shooting at the game we had seen,
and we all longed to have a meal of meat, we followed the footprints
of a number of old bulls. They showed a great amount of cunning
by selecting the densest parts of very closely-planted forests
to stand or recline in during the day. We came within six yards of them
several times before we knew that they were so near. We only heard them
rush away among the crashing branches, catching only a glimpse of them.
It was somewhat exciting to feel, as we trod on the dry leaves
with stealthy steps, that, for any thing we knew, we might next moment
be charged by one of the most dangerous beasts of the forest. We threaded out
their doublings for hours, drawn on by a keen craving for animal food,
as we had been entirely without salt for upward of two months,
but never could get a shot.

In passing along the side of the water every where except in Londa,
green frogs spring out at your feet, and light in the water
as if taking a "header"; and on the Leeambye and Chobe
we have great numbers of small green frogs (`Rana fasciata', Boie),
which light on blades of grass with remarkable precision;
but on coming along the Leeba I was struck by the sight of a light green toad
about an inch long. The leaf might be nearly perpendicular,
but it stuck to it like a fly. It was of the same size
as the `Brachymerus bi-fasciatus' (Smith),* which I saw only once
in the Bakwain country. Though small, it was hideous,
being colored jet black, with vermilion spots.

--
* The discovery of this last species is thus mentioned by that
  accomplished naturalist, Dr. Smith: "On the banks of the Limpopo River,
  close to the tropic of Capricorn, a massive tree was cut down to obtain wood
  to repair a wagon. The workman, while sawing the trunk longitudinally
  nearly along its centre, remarked, on reaching a certain point,
  `It is hollow, and will not answer the purpose for which it is wanted.'
  He persevered, however, and when a division into equal halves was effected,
  it was discovered that the saw in its course had crossed a large hole,
  in which were five specimens of the species just described,
  each about an inch in length. Every exertion was made to discover
  a means of communication between the external air and the cavity,
  but without success. Every part of the latter was probed with
  the utmost care, and water was kept in each half for a considerable time,
  without any passing into the wood. The inner surface of the cavity
  was black, as if charred, and so was likewise the adjoining wood
  for half an inch from the cavity. The tree, at the part where
  the latter existed, was 19 inches in diameter; the length of the trunk
  was 18 feet. When the Batrachia above mentioned were discovered,
  they appeared inanimate, but the influence of a warm sun to which
  they were subjected soon imparted to them a moderate degree of vigor.
  In a few hours from the time they were liberated they were tolerably active,
  and able to move from place to place apparently with great ease."
--

Before reaching the Makondo rivulet, latitude 13d 23' 12" S.,
we came upon the tsetse in such numbers that many bites were inflicted
on my poor ox, in spite of a man with a branch warding them off.
The bite of this insect does not affect the donkey as it does cattle.
The next morning, the spots on which my ox had been bitten were marked
by patches of hair about half an inch broad being wetted by exudation.
Poor Sinbad had carried me all the way from the Leeba to Golungo Alto,
and all the way back again, without losing any of his peculiarities,
or ever becoming reconciled to our perversity in forcing him away each morning
from the pleasant pasturage on which he had fed. I wished to give
the climax to his usefulness, and allay our craving for animal food
at the same time; but my men having some compunction, we carried him
to end his days in peace at Naliele.

Having dispatched a message to our old friend Manenko, we waited a day
opposite her village, which was about fifteen miles from the river.
Her husband was instantly dispatched to meet us with liberal presents of food,
she being unable to travel in consequence of a burn on the foot.
Sambanza gave us a detailed account of the political affairs of the country,
and of Kolimbota's evil doings, and next morning performed the ceremony
called "Kasendi", for cementing our friendship. It is accomplished thus:
The hands of the parties are joined (in this case Pitsane and Sambanza
were the parties engaged); small incisions are made on the clasped hands,
on the pits of the stomach of each, and on the right cheeks and foreheads.
A small quantity of blood is taken off from these points in both parties
by means of a stalk of grass. The blood from one person
is put into a pot of beer, and that of the second into another;
each then drinks the other's blood, and they are supposed to become
perpetual friends or relations. During the drinking of the beer,
some of the party continue beating the ground with short clubs,
and utter sentences by way of ratifying the treaty. The men belonging to each
then finish the beer. The principals in the performance of "Kasendi" are
henceforth considered blood-relations, and are bound to disclose to each other
any impending evil. If Sekeletu should resolve to attack the Balonda,
Pitsane would be under obligation to give Sambanza warning to escape,
and so on the other side. They now presented each other with
the most valuable presents they had to bestow. Sambanza walked off with
Pitsane's suit of green baize faced with red, which had been made in Loanda,
and Pitsane, besides abundant supplies of food, obtained two shells
similar to that I had received from Shinte.

On one occasion I became blood-relation to a young woman by accident.
She had a large cartilaginous tumor between the bones of the fore-arm,
which, as it gradually enlarged, so distended the muscles
as to render her unable to work. She applied to me to excise it.
I requested her to bring her husband, if he were willing
to have the operation performed, and, while removing the tumor,
one of the small arteries squirted some blood into my eye. She remarked,
when I was wiping the blood out of it, "You were a friend before,
now you are a blood-relation; and when you pass this way, always send me word,
that I may cook food for you."  In creating these friendships, my men had
the full intention of returning; each one had his `Molekane' (friend)
in every village of the friendly Balonda. Mohorisi even married a wife
in the town of Katema, and Pitsane took another in the town of Shinte.
These alliances were looked upon with great favor by the Balonda chiefs,
as securing the good-will of the Makololo.

In order that the social condition of the tribes may be understood
by the reader, I shall mention that, while waiting for Sambanza,
a party of Barotse came from Nyenko, the former residence of Limboa,
who had lately crossed the Leeba on his way toward Masiko.
The head man of this party had brought Limboa's son to his father,
because the Barotse at Nyenko had, since the departure of Limboa,
elected Nananko, another son of Santuru, in his stead;
and our visitor, to whom the boy had been intrusted as a guardian,
thinking him to be in danger, fled with him to his father. The Barotse,
whom Limboa had left behind at Nyenko, on proceeding to elect Nananko,
said, "No, it is quite too much for Limboa to rule over two places."
I would have gone to visit Limboa and Masiko too, in order to
prevent hostilities, but the state of my ox would not allow it.
I therefore sent a message to Limboa by some of his men,
protesting against war with his brother, and giving him formal notice
that the path up the Leeba had been given to us by the Balonda,
the owners of the country, and that no attempt must ever be made
to obstruct free intercourse.

On leaving this place we were deserted by one of our party, Mboenga,
an Ambonda man, who had accompanied us all the way to Loanda and back.
His father was living with Masiko, and it was natural for him
to wish to join his own family again. He went off honestly,
with the exception of taking a fine "tari" skin given me by Nyamoana,
but he left a parcel of gun-flints which he had carried for me
all the way from Loanda. I regretted parting with him thus,
and sent notice to him that he need not have run away,
and if he wished to come to Sekeletu again he would be welcome.
We subsequently met a large party of Barotse fleeing in the same direction;
but when I represented to them that there was a probability
of their being sold as slaves in Londa, and none in the country of Sekeletu,
they concluded to return. The grievance which the Barotse most feel
is being obliged to live with Sekeletu at Linyanti, where there is neither
fish nor fowl, nor any other kind of food, equal in quantity
to what they enjoy in their own fat valley.

A short distance below the confluence of the Leeba and Leeambye
we met a number of hunters belonging to the tribe called Mambowe,
who live under Masiko. They had dried flesh of hippopotami, buffaloes,
and alligators. They stalk the animals by using the stratagem of a cap
made of the skin of a leche's or poku's head, having the horns still attached,
and another made so as to represent the upper white part of the crane
called jabiru (`Mycteru Senegalensis'), with its long neck and beak above.
With these on, they crawl through the grass; they can easily
put up their heads so far as to see their prey without being recognized until
they are within bow-shot. They presented me with three fine water-turtles,*
one of which, when cooked, had upward of forty eggs in its body.
The shell of the egg is flexible, and it is of the same size at both ends,
like those of the alligator. The flesh, and especially the liver,
is excellent. The hunters informed us that, when the message
inculcating peace among the tribes came to Masiko, the common people
were so glad at the prospect of "binding up the spears",
that they ran to the river, and bathed and plunged in it for joy. This party
had been sent by Masiko to the Makololo for aid to repel their enemy,
but, afraid to go thither, had spent the time in hunting.
They have a dread of the Makololo, and hence the joy they expressed
when peace was proclaimed. The Mambowe hunters were much alarmed
until my name was mentioned. They then joined our party,
and on the following day discovered a hippopotamus dead,
which they had previously wounded. This was the first feast of flesh
my men had enjoyed, for, though the game was wonderfully abundant,
I had quite got out of the way of shooting, and missed perpetually.
Once I went with the determination of getting so close that I should not miss
a zebra. We went along one of the branches that stretch out from the river
in a small canoe, and two men, stooping down as low as they could,
paddled it slowly along to an open space near to a herd of zebras and pokus.
Peering over the edge of the canoe, the open space seemed
like a patch of wet ground, such as is often seen on the banks of a river,
made smooth as the resting-place of alligators. When we came within
a few yards of it, we found by the precipitate plunging of the reptile
that this was a large alligator itself. Although I had been most careful
to approach near enough, I unfortunately only broke the hind leg of a zebra.
My two men pursued it, but the loss of a hind leg does not prevent this animal
from a gallop. As I walked slowly after the men on an extensive plain
covered with a great crop of grass, which was `laid' by its own weight,
I observed that a solitary buffalo, disturbed by others of my own party,
was coming to me at a gallop. I glanced around, but the only tree
on the plain was a hundred yards off, and there was no escape elsewhere.
I therefore cocked my rifle, with the intention of giving him a steady shot
in the forehead when he should come within three or four yards of me.
The thought flashed across my mind, "What if your gun misses fire?"
I placed it to my shoulder as he came on at full speed,
and that is tremendous, though generally he is a lumbering-looking animal
in his paces. A small bush and bunch of grass fifteen yards off made him
swerve a little, and exposed his shoulder. I just heard the ball crack there
as I fell flat on my face. The pain must have made him
renounce his purpose, for he bounded close past me on to the water,
where he was found dead. In expressing my thankfulness to God among my men,
they were much offended with themselves for not being present
to shield me from this danger. The tree near me was a camel-thorn,
and reminded me that we had come back to the land of thorns again,
for the country we had left is one of evergreens.

--
* It is probably a species allied to the `Sternotherus sinuatus' of Dr. Smith,
  as it has no disagreeable smell. This variety annually leaves the water
  with so much regularity for the deposit of its eggs, that the natives decide
  on the time of sowing their seed by its appearance.
--

JULY 27TH. We reached the town of Libonta, and were received
with demonstrations of joy such as I had never witnessed before.
The women came forth to meet us, making their curious
dancing gestures and loud lulliloos. Some carried a mat and stick,
in imitation of a spear and shield. Others rushed forward and kissed
the hands and cheeks of the different persons of their acquaintance among us,
raising such a dust that it was quite a relief to get to the men
assembled and sitting with proper African decorum in the kotla.
We were looked upon as men risen from the dead, for the most skillful
of their diviners had pronounced us to have perished long ago.
After many expressions of joy at meeting, I arose, and, thanking them,
explained the causes of our long delay, but left the report to be made
by their own countrymen. Formerly I had been the chief speaker,
now I would leave the task of speaking to them. Pitsane then delivered
a speech of upward of an hour in length, giving a highly flattering picture
of the whole journey, of the kindness of the white men in general,
and of Mr. Gabriel in particular. He concluded by saying that
I had done more for them than they expected; that I had not only opened up
a path for them to the other white men, but conciliated all the chiefs
along the route. The oldest man present rose and answered this speech,
and, among other things, alluded to the disgust I felt at the Makololo
for engaging in marauding expeditions against Lechulatebe and Sebolamakwaia,
of which we had heard from the first persons we met, and which my companions
most energetically denounced as "mashue hela", entirely bad.
He entreated me not to lose heart, but to reprove Sekeletu as my child.
Another old man followed with the same entreaties. The following day
we observed as our thanksgiving to God for his goodness in bringing us all
back in safety to our friends. My men decked themselves out in their best,
and I found that, although their goods were finished, they had managed to save
suits of European clothing, which, being white, with their red caps,
gave them rather a dashing appearance. They tried to walk like the soldiers
they had seen in Loanda, and called themselves my "braves" (batlabani).
During the service they all sat with their guns over their shoulders,
and excited the unbounded admiration of the women and children.
I addressed them all on the goodness of God in preserving us
from all the dangers of strange tribes and disease. We had a similar service
in the afternoon. The men gave us two fine oxen for slaughter,
and the women supplied us abundantly with milk, meal, and butter.
It was all quite gratuitous, and I felt ashamed that I could make no return.
My men explained the total expenditure of our means, and the Libontese
answered gracefully, "It does not matter; you have opened a path for us,
and we shall have sleep."  Strangers came flocking from a distance,
and seldom empty-handed. Their presents I distributed among my men.

Our progress down the Barotse valley was just like this. Every village
gave us an ox, and sometimes two. The people were wonderfully kind.
I felt, and still feel, most deeply grateful, and tried to benefit them
in the only way I could, by imparting the knowledge of that Savior
who can comfort and supply them in the time of need, and my prayer is that
he may send his good Spirit to instruct them and lead them into his kingdom.
Even now I earnestly long to return, and make some recompense to them
for their kindness. In passing them on our way to the north,
their liberality might have been supposed to be influenced
by the hope of repayment on our return, for the white man's land
is imagined to be the source of every ornament they prize most.
But, though we set out from Loanda with a considerable quantity of goods,
hoping both to pay our way through the stingy Chiboque,
and to make presents to the kind Balonda and still more generous Makololo,
the many delays caused by sickness made us expend all my stock,
and all the goods my men procured by their own labor at Loanda,
and we returned to the Makololo as poor as when we set out.
Yet no distrust was shown, and my poverty did not lessen my influence.
They saw that I had been exerting myself for their benefit alone,
and even my men remarked, "Though we return as poor as we went,
we have not gone in vain."  They began immediately to collect
tusks of hippopotami and other ivory for a second journey.

Chapter 25.

  Colony of Birds called Linkololo -- The Village of Chitlane --
  Murder of Mpololo's Daughter -- Execution of the Murderer and his Wife --
  My Companions find that their Wives have married other Husbands --
  Sunday -- A Party from Masiko -- Freedom of Speech -- Canoe struck
  by a Hippopotamus -- Gonye -- Appearance of Trees at the end of Winter --
  Murky Atmosphere -- Surprising Amount of organic Life --
  Hornets -- The Packages forwarded by Mr. Moffat --
  Makololo Suspicions and Reply to the Matebele who brought them --
  Convey the Goods to an Island and build a Hut over them -- Ascertain that
  Sir R. Murchison had recognized the true Form of African Continent --
  Arrival at Linyanti -- A grand Picho -- Shrewd Inquiry --
  Sekeletu in his Uniform -- A Trading-party sent to Loanda with Ivory --
  Mr. Gabriel's Kindness to them -- Difficulties in Trading --
  Two Makololo Forays during our Absence -- Report of the Country to the N.E.
  -- Death of influential Men -- The Makololo desire to be nearer the Market
  -- Opinions upon a Change of Residence -- Climate of Barotse Valley --
  Diseases -- Author's Fevers not a fair Criterion in the Matter --
  The Interior an inviting Field for the Philanthropist -- Consultations about
  a Path to the East Coast -- Decide on descending North Bank of Zambesi --
  Wait for the Rainy Season -- Native way of spending Time during the period
  of greatest Heat -- Favorable Opening for Missionary Enterprise --
  Ben Habib wishes to marry -- A Maiden's Choice -- Sekeletu's Hospitality --
  Sulphureted Hydrogen and Malaria -- Conversations with Makololo --
  Their moral Character and Conduct -- Sekeletu wishes to purchase
  a Sugar-mill, etc. -- The Donkeys -- Influence among the Natives --
  "Food fit for a Chief" -- Parting Words of Mamire -- Motibe's Excuses.

On the 31st of July we parted with our kind Libonta friends.
We planted some of our palm-tree seeds in different villages of this valley.
They began to sprout even while we were there, but, unfortunately,
they were always destroyed by the mice which swarm in every hut.

At Chitlane's village we collected the young of a colony of
the linkololo (`Anastomus lamalligerus'), a black, long-legged bird,
somewhat larger than a crow, which lives on shellfish (`Ampullaria'),
and breeds in society at certain localities among the reeds.
These places are well known, as they continue there from year to year,
and belong to the chiefs, who at particular times of the year
gather most of the young. The produce of this "harvest", as they call it,
which was presented to me, was a hundred and seventy-five unfledged birds.
They had been rather late in collecting them, in consequence of waiting
for the arrival of Mpololo, who acts the part of chief, but gave them to me,
knowing that this would be pleasing to him, otherwise this colony
would have yielded double the amount. The old ones appear along the Leeambye
in vast flocks, and look lean and scraggy. The young are very fat,
and, when roasted, are esteemed one of the dainties of the Barotse valley.
In presents of this kind, as well as of oxen, it is a sort of feast of joy,
the person to whom they are presented having the honor of distributing
the materials of the feast. We generally slaughtered every ox at the village
where it was presented, and then our friends and we rejoiced together.

The village of Chitlane is situated, like all others in the Barotse valley,
on an eminence, over which floods do not rise; but this last year
the water approached nearer to an entire submergence of the whole valley
than has been known in the memory of man. Great numbers of people
were now suffering from sickness, which always prevails when the waters
are drying up, and I found much demand for the medicines I had brought
from Loanda. The great variation of the temperature each day
must have a trying effect upon the health. At this village
there is a real Indian banian-tree, which has spread itself
over a considerable space by means of roots from its branches;
it has been termed, in consequence, "the tree with legs" (more oa maotu).
It is curious that trees of this family are looked upon with veneration,
and all the way from the Barotse to Loanda are thought to be
preservatives from evil.

On reaching Naliele on the 1st of August we found Mpololo in great affliction
on account of the death of his daughter and her child. She had been
lately confined; and her father naturally remembered her when an ox
was slaughtered, or when the tribute of other food, which he receives
in lieu of Sekeletu, came in his way, and sent frequent presents to her.
This moved the envy of one of the Makololo who hated Mpololo,
and, wishing to vex him, he entered the daughter's hut by night,
and strangled both her and her child. He then tried to make fire in the hut
and burn it, so that the murder might not be known; but the squeaking noise
of rubbing the sticks awakened a servant, and the murderer was detected.
Both he and his wife were thrown into the river; the latter having
"known of her husband's intentions, and not revealing them."  She declared
she had dissuaded him from the crime, and, had any one interposed a word,
she might have been spared.

Mpololo exerted himself in every way to supply us with other canoes,
and we left Shinte's with him. The Mambowe were well received,
and departed with friendly messages to their chief Masiko.
My men were exceedingly delighted with the cordial reception we met with
every where; but a source of annoyance was found where it was not expected.
Many of their wives had married other men during our two years' absence.
Mashauana's wife, who had borne him two children, was among the number.
He wished to appear not to feel it much, saying, "Why, wives are
as plentiful as grass, and I can get another: she may go;"
but he would add, "If I had that fellow, I would open his ears for him."
As most of them had more wives than one, I tried to console them
by saying that they had still more than I had, and that they had enough yet;
but they felt the reflection to be galling, that while they were toiling,
another had been devouring their corn. Some of their wives came
with very young infants in their arms. This excited no discontent;
and for some I had to speak to the chief to order the men,
who had married the only wives some of my companions ever had,
to restore them.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 5TH. A large audience listened most attentively
to my morning address. Surely some will remember the ideas conveyed,
and pray to our merciful Father, who would never have thought of Him
but for this visit. The invariably kind and respectful treatment
I have received from these, and many other heathen tribes in this
central country, together with the attentive observations of many years,
have led me to the belief that, if one exerts himself for their good,
he will never be ill treated. There may be opposition to his doctrine,
but none to the man himself.

While still at Naliele, a party which had been sent after me
by Masiko arrived. He was much disappointed because I had not visited him.
They brought an elephant's tusk, two calabashes of honey,
two baskets of maize, and one of ground-nuts, as a present.
Masiko wished to say that he had followed the injunction which I had given
as the will of God, and lived in peace until his brother Limboa came,
captured his women as they went to their gardens, and then appeared
before his stockade. Masiko offered to lead his men out;
but they objected, saying, "Let us servants be killed, you must not be slain."
Those who said this were young Barotse who had been drilled to fighting
by Sebituane, and used shields of ox-hide. They beat off the party of Limboa,
ten being wounded, and ten slain in the engagement. Limboa subsequently sent
three slaves as a self-imposed fine to Masiko for attacking him. I succeeded
in getting the Makololo to treat the messengers of Masiko well, though,
as they regarded them as rebels, it was somewhat against the grain at first
to speak civilly to them.

Mpololo, attempting to justify an opposite line of conduct,
told me how they had fled from Sebituane, even though he had given them
numbers of cattle after their subjection by his arms, and was rather surprised
to find that I was disposed to think more highly of them
for having asserted their independence, even at the loss of milk.
For this food, all who have been accustomed to it from infancy in Africa
have an excessive longing. I pointed out how they might be
mutually beneficial to each other by the exchange of canoes and cattle.

There are some very old Barotse living here who were the companions
of the old chief Santuru. These men, protected by their age, were very free
in their comments on the "upstart" Makololo. One of them, for instance,
interrupted my conversation one day with some Makololo gentlemen
with the advice "not to believe them, for they were only a set of thieves;"
and it was taken in quite a good-natured way. It is remarkable that
none of the ancients here had any tradition of an earthquake having occurred
in this region. Their quick perception of events recognizable by the senses,
and retentiveness of memory, render it probable that no perceptible
movement of the earth has taken place between 7 Deg. and 27 Deg. S.
in the centre of the continent during the last two centuries at least.
There is no appearance of recent fracture or disturbance of rocks
to be seen in the central country, except the falls of Gonye;
nor is there any evidence or tradition of hurricanes.

I left Naliele on the 13th of August, and, when proceeding along the shore
at midday, a hippopotamus struck the canoe with her forehead,
lifting one half of it quite out of the water, so as nearly to overturn it.
The force of the butt she gave tilted Mashauana out into the river;
the rest of us sprang to the shore, which was only about ten yards off.
Glancing back, I saw her come to the surface a short way off,
and look to the canoe, as if to see if she had done much mischief.
It was a female, whose young one had been speared the day before.
No damage was done except wetting person and goods. This is so unusual
an occurrence, when the precaution is taken to coast along the shore,
that my men exclaimed, "Is the beast mad?"  There were eight of us
in the canoe at the time, and the shake it received shows
the immense power of this animal in the water.

On reaching Gonye, Mokwala, the head man, having presented me with a tusk,
I gave it to Pitsane, as he was eagerly collecting ivory
for the Loanda market. The rocks of Gonye are reddish gray sandstone,
nearly horizontal, and perforated by madrepores, the holes showing
the course of the insect in different directions. The rock itself
has been impregnated with iron, and that hardened, forms a glaze
on the surface -- an appearance common to many of the rocks of this country.

AUGUST 22D. This is the end of winter. The trees which line the banks
begin to bud and blossom, and there is some show of the influence
of the new sap, which will soon end in buds that push off the old foliage
by assuming a very bright orange color. This orange is so bright that
I mistook it for masses of yellow blossom. There is every variety of shade
in the leaves -- yellow, purple, copper, liver-color, and even inky black.

Having got the loan of other canoes from Mpololo, and three oxen
as provision for the way, which made the number we had been presented with
in the Barotse valley amount to thirteen, we proceeded down the river
toward Sesheke, and were as much struck as formerly with the noble river.
The whole scenery is lovely, though the atmosphere is murky
in consequence of the continuance of the smoky tinge of winter.

This peculiar tinge of the atmosphere was observed every winter at Kolobeng,
but it was not so observable in Londa as in the south, though I had always
considered that it was owing to the extensive burnings of the grass,
in which hundreds of miles of pasturage are annually consumed.
As the quantity burned in the north is very much greater than in the south,
and the smoky tinge of winter was not observed, some other explanation
than these burnings must be sought for. I have sometimes imagined
that the lowering of the temperature in the winter rendered the vapor
in the upper current of air visible, and imparted this hazy appearance.

The amount of organic life is surprising. At the time the river
begins to rise, the `Ibis religiosa' comes down in flocks of fifties,
with prodigious numbers of other water-fowl. Some of the sand-banks
appear whitened during the day with flocks of pelicans -- I once counted
three hundred; others are brown with ducks (`Anas histrionica') --
I got fourteen of these by one shot (`Querquedula Hottentota', Smith),
and other kinds. Great numbers of gulls (`Procellaria turtur', Smith),
and several others, float over the surface. The vast quantity of small birds,
which feed on insects, show that the river teems also
with specimens of minute organic life. In walking among bushes on the banks
we are occasionally stung by a hornet, which makes its nest
in form like that of our own wasp, and hangs it on the branches of trees.
The breeding storgh* is so strong in this insect that it pursues any one
twenty or thirty yards who happens to brush too closely past its nest.
The sting, which it tries to inflict near the eye, is more like
a discharge of electricity from a powerful machine, or a violent blow,
than aught else. It produces momentary insensibility,
and is followed by the most pungent pain. Yet this insect is quite timid
when away from its nest. It is named Murotuani by the Bechuanas.

--
* (Greek) sigma-tau-omicron-rho-gamma-eta.
--

We have tsetse between Nameta and Sekhosi. An insect of prey,
about an inch in length, long-legged and gaunt-looking, may be observed
flying about and lighting upon the bare ground. It is a tiger in its way,
for it springs upon tsetse and other flies, and, sucking out their blood,
throws the bodies aside.

Long before reaching Sesheke we had been informed that a party of Matebele,
the people of Mosilikatse, had brought some packages of goods for me
to the south bank of the river, near the Victoria Falls,
and, though they declared that they had been sent by Mr. Moffat,
the Makololo had refused to credit the statement of their sworn enemies.
They imagined that the parcels were directed to me as a mere trick,
whereby to place witchcraft-medicine into the hands of the Makololo.
When the Matebele on the south bank called to the Makololo on the north
to come over in canoes and receive the goods sent by Moffat to "Nake",
the Makololo replied, "Go along with you, we know better than that;
how could he tell Moffat to send his things here, he having gone away
to the north?"  The Matebele answered, "Here are the goods;
we place them now before you, and if you leave them to perish
the guilt will be yours." When they had departed the Makololo
thought better of it, and, after much divination, went over
with fear and trembling, and carried the packages carefully
to an island in the middle of the stream; then, building a hut over them
to protect them from the weather, they left them; and there I found
they had remained from September, 1854, till September, 1855,
in perfect safety. Here, as I had often experienced before,
I found the news was very old, and had lost much of its interest
by keeping, but there were some good eatables from Mrs. Moffat.
Among other things, I discovered that my friend, Sir Roderick Murchison,
while in his study in London, had arrived at the same conclusion
respecting the form of the African continent as I had lately come to
on the spot (see note p. 512 [footnote to Chapter 24 Paragraph 7]);
and that, from the attentive study of the geological map of Mr. Bain
and other materials, some of which were furnished by the discoveries
of Mr. Oswell and myself, he had not only clearly enunciated
the peculiar configuration as an hypothesis in his discourse
before the Geographical Society in 1852, but had even the assurance
to send me out a copy for my information! There was not much use
in nursing my chagrin at being thus fairly "cut out" by the man
who had foretold the existence of the Australian gold before its discovery,
for here it was in black and white. In his easy-chair he had forestalled me
by three years, though I had been working hard through jungle,
marsh, and fever, and, since the light dawned on my mind at Dilolo,
had been cherishing the pleasing delusion that I should be the first
to suggest the idea that the interior of Africa was a watery plateau
of less elevation than flanking hilly ranges.

Having waited a few days at Sesheke till the horses which we had left
at Linyanti should arrive, we proceeded to that town, and found the wagon,
and every thing we had left in November, 1853, perfectly safe.
A grand meeting of all the people was called to receive our report,
and the articles which had been sent by the governor and merchants of Loanda.
I explained that none of these were my property, but that they were sent
to show the friendly feelings of the white men, and their eagerness
to enter into commercial relations with the Makololo. I then requested
my companions to give a true account of what they had seen.
The wonderful things lost nothing in the telling, the climax always being
that they had finished the whole world, and had turned only
when there was no more land. One glib old gentleman asked,
"Then you reached Ma Robert (Mrs. L.)?"  They were obliged to confess
that she lived a little beyond the world. The presents were received
with expressions of great satisfaction and delight; and on Sunday,
when Sekeletu made his appearance at church in his uniform,
it attracted more attention than the sermon; and the kind expressions
they made use of respecting myself were so very flattering
that I felt inclined to shut my eyes. Their private opinion must have tallied
with their public report, for I very soon received offers from volunteers
to accompany me to the east coast. They said they wished to be able
to return and relate strange things like my recent companions;
and Sekeletu immediately made arrangements with the Arab Ben Habib
to conduct a fresh party with a load of ivory to Loanda. These, he said,
must go with him and learn to trade: they were not to have any thing to do
in the disposal of the ivory, but simply look and learn. My companions
were to remain and rest themselves, and then return to Loanda
when the others had come home. Sekeletu consulted me as to sending presents
back to the governor and merchants of Loanda, but, not possessing
much confidence in this Arab, I advised him to send a present by Pitsane,
as he knew who ought to receive it.

Since my arrival in England, information has been received from Mr. Gabriel
that this party had arrived on the west coast, but that the ivory
had been disposed of to some Portuguese merchants in the interior,
and the men had been obliged to carry it down to Loanda.
They had not been introduced to Mr. Gabriel, but that gentleman,
having learned that they were in the city, went to them, and pronounced
the names Pitsane, Mashauana, when all started up and crowded round him.
When Mr. G. obtained an interpreter, he learned that they had been
ordered by Sekeletu to be sure and go to my brother, as he termed him.
Mr. G. behaved in the same liberal manner as he had done to my companions,
and they departed for their distant home after bidding him
a formal and affectionate adieu.

It was to be expected that they would be imposed upon in their first attempt
at trading, but I believe that this could not be so easily repeated.
It is, however, unfortunate that in dealing with the natives in the interior
there is no attempt made at the establishment of fair prices.
The trader shows a quantity of goods, the native asks for more,
and more is given. The native, being ignorant of the value
of the goods or of his ivory, tries what another demand will bring.
After some haggling, an addition is made, and that bargain is concluded
to the satisfaction of both parties. Another trader comes, and perhaps
offers more than the first; the customary demand for an addition is made,
and he yields. The natives by this time are beginning to believe
that the more they ask the more they will get: they continue to urge,
the trader bursts into a rage, and the trade is stopped,
to be renewed next day by a higher offer. The natives naturally conclude that
they were right the day before, and a most disagreeable commercial intercourse
is established. A great amount of time is spent in concluding these bargains.
In other parts, it is quite common to see the natives going
from one trader to another till they have finished the whole village;
and some give presents of brandy to tempt their custom.
Much of this unpleasant state of feeling between natives and Europeans results
from the commencements made by those who were ignorant of the language,
and from the want of education being given at the same time.

During the time of our absence at Loanda, the Makololo had made two forays,
and captured large herds of cattle. One, to the lake,
was in order to punish Lechulatebe for the insolence he had manifested
after procuring some fire-arms; and the other to Sebola Makwaia,
a chief living far to the N.E. This was most unjustifiable,
and had been condemned by all the influential Makololo.
Ben Habib, however, had, in coming from Zanzibar, visited Sebola Makwaia,
and found that the chief town was governed by an old woman of that name.
She received him kindly, and gave him a large quantity of magnificent ivory,
sufficient to set him up as a trader, at a very small cost;
but, his party having discharged their guns, Ben Habib observed
that the female chief and her people were extremely alarmed, and would have
fled and left their cattle in a panic, had he not calmed their fears.
Ben Habib informed the uncle of Sekeletu that he could easily
guide him thither, and he might get a large number of cattle
without any difficulty. This uncle advised Sekeletu to go;
and, as the only greatness he knew was imitation of his father's deeds,
he went, but was not so successful as was anticipated.
Sebola Makwaia had fled on hearing of the approach of the Makololo;
and, as the country is marshy and intersected in every direction by rivers,
they could not easily pursue her. They captured canoes,
and, pursuing up different streams, came to a small lake called "Shuia".
Having entered the Loangwa, flowing to the eastward, they found it advisable
to return, as the natives in those parts became more warlike
the further they went in that direction. Before turning,
the Arab pointed out an elevated ridge in the distance,
and said to the Makololo, "When we see that, we always know
that we are only ten or fifteen days from the sea."  On seeing him afterward,
he informed me that on the same ridge, but much further to the north,
the Banyassa lived, and that the rivers flowed from it toward the S.W.
He also confirmed the other Arab's account that the Loapula,
which he had crossed at the town of Cazembe, flowed in the same direction,
and into the Leeambye.

Several of the influential Makololo who had engaged in these
marauding expeditions had died before our arrival, and Nokwane had succumbed
to his strange disease. Ramosantane had perished through vomiting blood
from over-fatigue in the march, and Lerimo was affected by a leprosy
peculiar to the Barotse valley. In accordance with the advice
of my Libonta friends, I did not fail to reprove "my child Sekeletu"
for his marauding. This was not done in an angry manner, for no good
is ever achieved by fierce denunciations. Motibe, his father-in-law,
said to me, "Scold him much, but don't let others hear you."

The Makololo expressed great satisfaction with the route we had opened up
to the west, and soon after our arrival a "picho" was called,
in order to discuss the question of removal to the Barotse valley,
so that they might be nearer the market. Some of the older men objected
to abandoning the line of defense afforded by the rivers Chobe and Zambesi
against their southern enemies the Matebele. The Makololo generally have
an aversion to the Barotse valley, on account of the fevers
which are annually engendered in it as the waters dry up. They prefer it
only as a cattle station; for, though the herds are frequently thinned
by an epidemic disease (peripneumonia), they breed so fast that the losses
are soon made good. Wherever else the Makololo go, they always leave
a portion of their stock in the charge of herdsmen in that prolific valley.
Some of the younger men objected to removal, because the rankness of the grass
at the Barotse did not allow of their running fast, and because there
"it never becomes cool."

Sekeletu at last stood up, and, addressing me, said, "I am perfectly satisfied
as to the great advantages for trade of the path which you have opened,
and think that we ought to go to the Barotse, in order to make the way
from us to Loanda shorter; but with whom am I to live there?
If you were coming with us, I would remove to-morrow; but now you are going
to the white man's country to bring Ma Robert, and when you return
you will find me near to the spot on which you wish to dwell."
I had then no idea that any healthy spot existed in the country,
and thought only of a convenient central situation, adapted for intercourse
with the adjacent tribes and with the coast, such as that
near to the confluence of the Leeba and Leeambye.

The fever is certainly a drawback to this otherwise important
missionary field. The great humidity produced by heavy rains and inundations,
the exuberant vegetation caused by fervid heat in rich moist soil,
and the prodigious amount of decaying vegetable matter annually exposed
after the inundations to the rays of a torrid sun, with a flat surface
often covered by forest through which the winds can not pass, all combine
to render the climate far from salubrious for any portion of the human family.
But the fever, thus caused and rendered virulent, is almost the only disease
prevalent in it. There is no consumption or scrofula,
and but little insanity. Smallpox and measles visited the country
some thirty years ago and cut off many, but they have since made no return,
although the former has been almost constantly in one part or another
of the coast. Singularly enough, the people used inoculation
for this disease; and in one village, where they seem to have chosen
a malignant case from which to inoculate the rest, nearly the whole village
was cut off. I have seen but one case of hydrocephalus, a few of epilepsy,
none of cholera or cancer, and many diseases common in England
are here quite unknown. It is true that I suffered severely from fever,
but my experience can not be taken as a fair criterion in the matter.
Compelled to sleep on the damp ground month after month, exposed to
drenching showers, and getting the lower extremities wetted two or three times
every day, living on native food (with the exception of sugarless coffee,
during the journey to the north and the latter half of the return journey),
and that food the manioc roots and meal, which contain so much
uncombined starch that the eyes become affected (as in the case of animals
fed for experiment on pure gluten or starch), and being exposed during
many hours each day in comparative inaction to the direct rays of the sun,
the thermometer standing above 96 Deg. in the shade -- these constitute
a more pitiful hygiene than any missionaries who may follow
will ever have to endure. I do not mention these privations
as if I considered them to be "sacrifices", for I think that the word
ought never to be applied to any thing we can do for Him
who came down from heaven and died for us; but I suppose it is necessary
to notice them, in order that no unfavorable opinion may be formed
from my experience as to what that of others might be, if less exposed
to the vicissitudes of the weather and change of diet.

I believe that the interior of this country presents
a much more inviting field for the philanthropist than does the west coast,
where missionaries of the Church Missionary, United Presbyterian,
and other societies have long labored with most astonishing devotedness
and never-flagging zeal. There the fevers are much more virulent
and more speedily fatal than here, for from 8 Deg. south
they almost invariably take the intermittent or least fatal type;
and their effect being to enlarge the spleen, a complaint which
is best treated by change of climate, we have the remedy at hand
by passing the 20th parallel on our way south. But I am not to be understood
as intimating that any of the numerous tribes are anxious for instruction:
they are not the inquiring spirits we read of in other countries;
they do not desire the Gospel, because they know nothing about either it
or its benefits; but there is no impediment in the way of instruction.
Every head man would be proud of a European visitor or resident
in his territory, and there is perfect security for life and property
all over the interior country. The great barriers which have kept Africa shut
are the unhealthiness of the coast, and the exclusive, illiberal disposition
of the border tribes. It has not within the historic period been cut into
by deep arms of the sea, and only a small fringe of its population
have come into contact with the rest of mankind. Race has much to do
in the present circumstances of nations; yet it is probable
that the unhealthy coast-climate has reacted on the people, and aided
both in perpetuating their own degradation and preventing those more inland
from having intercourse with the rest of the world. It is to be hoped
that these obstacles will be overcome by the more rapid means of locomotion
possessed in the present age, if a good highway can become available
from the coast into the interior.

Having found it impracticable to open up a carriage-path to the west,
it became a question as to which part of the east coast
we should direct our steps. The Arabs had come from Zanzibar
through a peaceful country. They assured me that the powerful chiefs
beyond the Cazembe on the N.E., viz., Moatutu, Moaroro, and Mogogo,
chiefs of the tribes Batutu, Baroro, and Bagogo, would have no objection
to my passing through their country. They described the population there
as located in small villages like the Balonda, and that no difficulty
is experienced in traveling among them. They mentioned also that,
at a distance of ten days beyond Cazembe, their path winds round
the end of Lake Tanganyenka. But when they reach this lake,
a little to the northwest of its southern extremity, they find no difficulty
in obtaining canoes to carry them over. They sleep on islands, for it is said
to require three days in crossing, and may thus be forty or fifty miles broad.
Here they punt the canoes the whole way, showing that it is shallow.
There are many small streams in the path, and three large rivers.
This, then, appeared to me to be the safest; but my present object
being a path admitting of water rather than land carriage,
this route did not promise so much as that by way of the Zambesi or Leeambye.
The Makololo knew all the country eastward as far as the Kafue,
from having lived in former times near the confluence of that river
with the Zambesi, and they all advised this path in preference to that
by the way of Zanzibar. The only difficulty that they assured me of
was that in the falls of Victoria. Some recommended my going to Sesheke,
and crossing over in a N.E. direction to the Kafue, which is only
six days distant, and descending that river to the Zambesi.
Others recommended me to go on the south bank of the Zambesi until
I had passed the falls, then get canoes and proceed farther down the river.
All spoke strongly of the difficulties of traveling on the north bank,
on account of the excessively broken and rocky nature of the country
near the river on that side. And when Ponuane, who had lately headed
a foray there, proposed that I should carry canoes along that side
till we reached the spot where the Leeambye becomes broad and placid again,
others declared that, from the difficulties he himself had experienced
in forcing the men of his expedition to do this, they believed that mine
would be sure to desert me if I attempted to impose such a task upon them.
Another objection to traveling on either bank of the river
was the prevalence of the tsetse, which is so abundant that the inhabitants
can keep no domestic animals except goats.

While pondering over these different paths, I could not help regretting
my being alone. If I had enjoyed the company of my former companion,
Mr. Oswell, one of us might have taken the Zambesi, and the other gone
by way of Zanzibar. The latter route was decidedly the easiest,
because all the inland tribes were friendly, while the tribes
in the direction of the Zambesi were inimical, and I should now be obliged
to lead a party, which the Batoka of that country view as hostile invaders,
through an enemy's land; but, as the prospect of permanent water-conveyance
was good, I decided on going down the Zambesi, and keeping on the north bank,
because, in the map given by Bowditch, Tete, the farthest inland
station of the Portuguese, is erroneously placed on that side.
Being near the end of September, the rains were expected daily;
the clouds were collecting, and the wind blew strongly from the east,
but it was excessively hot. All the Makololo urged me strongly to remain
till the ground should be cooled by the rains; and as it was probable
that I should get fever if I commenced my journey now, I resolved to wait.
The parts of the country about 17 Deg. and 18 Deg. suffer from drought
and become dusty. It is but the commencement of the humid region
to the north, and partakes occasionally of the character of both
the wet and dry regions. Some idea may be formed of the heat in October
by the fact that the thermometer (protected) stood, in the shade of my wagon,
at 100 Deg. through the day. It rose to 110 Deg. if unprotected
from the wind; at dark it showed 89 Deg.; at 10 o'clock, 80 Deg.;
and then gradually sunk till sunrise, when it was 70 Deg. That is usually
the period of greatest cold in each twenty-four hours in this region.
The natives, during the period of greatest heat, keep in their huts,
which are always pleasantly cool by day, but close and suffocating by night.
Those who are able to afford it sit guzzling beer or boyaloa.
The perspiration produced by copious draughts seems to give enjoyment,
the evaporation causing a feeling of coolness. The attendants of the chief,
on these occasions, keep up a continuous roar of bantering, raillery,
laughing, and swearing. The dance is kept up in the moonlight
till past midnight. The women stand clapping their hands continuously,
and the old men sit admiringly, and say, "It is really very fine."  As crowds
came to see me, I employed much of my time in conversation, that being
a good mode of conveying instruction. In the public meetings for worship
the people listened very attentively, and behaved with more decorum
than formerly. They really form a very inviting field for a missionary.
Surely the oft-told tale of the goodness and love of our heavenly Father,
in giving up his own Son to death for us sinners, will, by the power
of his Holy Spirit, beget love in some of these heathen hearts.

1ST OCTOBER. Before Ben Habib started for Loanda, he asked
the daughter of Sebituane in marriage. This is the plan the Arabs adopt
for gaining influence in a tribe, and they have been known
to proceed thus cautiously to form connections, and gradually gain
so much influence as to draw all the tribe over to their religion.
I never heard of any persecution, although the Arabs with whom
I came in contact seemed much attached to their religion.
This daughter of Sebituane, named Manchunyane, was about twelve years of age.
As I was the bosom-friend of her father, I was supposed to have a voice
in her disposal, and, on being asked, objected to her being taken away,
we knew not whither, and where we might never see her again.
As her name implies, she was only a little black, and, besides being as fair
as any of the Arabs, had quite the Arab features; but I have no doubt
that Ben Habib will renew his suit more successfully on some other occasion.
In these cases of marriage, the consent of the young women is seldom asked.
A maid-servant of Sekeletu, however, pronounced by the Makololo
to be good-looking, was at this time sought in marriage by five young men.
Sekeletu, happening to be at my wagon when one of these preferred his suit,
very coolly ordered all five to stand in a row before the young woman,
that she might make her choice. Two refused to stand, apparently,
because they could not brook the idea of a repulse, although willing enough
to take her if Sekeletu had acceded to their petition without reference
to her will. Three dandified fellows stood forth, and she unhesitatingly
decided on taking one who was really the best looking. It was amusing to see
the mortification exhibited on the black faces of the unsuccessful candidates,
while the spectators greeted them with a hearty laugh.

During the whole of my stay with the Makololo, Sekeletu supplied
my wants abundantly, appointing some cows to furnish me with milk,
and, when he went out to hunt, sent home orders for slaughtered oxen
to be given. That the food was not given in a niggardly spirit
may be inferred from the fact that, when I proposed to depart
on the 20th of October, he protested against my going off in such a hot sun.
"Only wait," said he, "for the first shower, and then I will let you go."
This was reasonable, for the thermometer, placed upon a deal box in the sun,
rose to 138 Deg. It stood at 108 Deg. in the shade by day,
and 96 Deg. at sunset. If my experiments were correct,
the blood of a European is of a higher temperature than that of an African.
The bulb, held under my tongue, stood at 100 Deg.; under that of the natives,
at 98 Deg. There was much sickness in the town, and no wonder,
for part of the water left by the inundation still formed a large pond
in the centre. Even the plains between Linyanti and Sesheke had not yet been
freed from the waters of the inundation. They had risen higher than usual,
and for a long time canoes passed from the one place to the other,
a distance of upward of 120 miles, in nearly a straight line.
We found many patches of stagnant water, which, when disturbed
by our passing through them, evolved strong effluvia of sulphureted hydrogen.
At other times these spots exhibit an efflorescence of the nitrate of soda;
they also contain abundance of lime, probably from decaying vegetable matter,
and from these may have emanated the malaria which caused
the present sickness. I have often remarked this effluvium in sickly spots,
and can not help believing but that it has some connection with fever,
though I am quite aware of Dr. MacWilliams's unsuccessful efforts
to discover sulphureted hydrogen, by the most delicate tests,
in the Niger expedition.

I had plenty of employment, for, besides attending to the severer cases,
I had perpetual calls on my attention. The town contained
at least 7000 inhabitants, and every one thought that he might come,
and at least look at me. In talking with some of the more intelligent
in the evenings, the conversation having turned from inquiries respecting
eclipses of the sun and moon to that other world where Jesus reigns,
they let me know that my attempts to enlighten them had not been
without some small effect. "Many of the children," said they,
"talk about the strange things you bring to their ears, but the old men
show a little opposition by saying, `Do we know what he is talking about?'"
Ntlaria and others complain of treacherous memories, and say,
"When we hear words about other things, we hold them fast;
but when we hear you tell much more wonderful things than any we have
ever heard before, we don't know how it is, they run away from our hearts."
These are the more intelligent of my Makololo friends.
On the majority the teaching produces no appreciable effect;
they assent to the truth with the most perplexing indifference,
adding, "But we don't know," or, "We do not understand."
My medical intercourse with them enabled me to ascertain their moral status
better than a mere religious teacher could do. They do not attempt
to hide the evil, as men often do, from their spiritual instructors;
but I have found it difficult to come to a conclusion on their character.
They sometimes perform actions remarkably good, and sometimes
as strangely the opposite. I have been unable to ascertain the motive
for the good, or account for the callousness of conscience with which
they perpetrate the bad. After long observation, I came to the conclusion
that they are just such a strange mixture of good and evil
as men are every where else. There is not among them an approach
to that constant stream of benevolence flowing from the rich to the poor
which we have in England, nor yet the unostentatious attentions
which we have among our own poor to each other. Yet there are
frequent instances of genuine kindness and liberality, as well as
actions of an opposite character. The rich show kindness to the poor
in expectation of services, and a poor person who has no relatives
will seldom be supplied even with water in illness, and, when dead,
will be dragged out to be devoured by the hyaenas instead of being buried.
Relatives alone will condescend to touch a dead body. It would be easy
to enumerate instances of inhumanity which I have witnessed.
An interesting-looking girl came to my wagon one day in a state of nudity,
and almost a skeleton. She was a captive from another tribe,
and had been neglected by the man who claimed her. Having supplied her wants,
I made inquiry for him, and found that he had been unsuccessful in raising
a crop of corn, and had no food to give her. I volunteered to take her;
but he said he would allow me to feed her and make her fat,
and then take her away. I protested against his heartlessness;
and, as he said he could "not part with his child," I was precluded
from attending to her wants. In a day or two she was lost sight of.
She had gone out a little way from the town, and, being too weak to return,
had been cruelly left to perish. Another day I saw a poor boy
going to the water to drink, apparently in a starving condition.
This case I brought before the chief in council, and found that his emaciation
was ascribed to disease and want combined. He was not one of the Makololo,
but a member of a subdued tribe. I showed them that any one professing
to claim a child, and refusing proper nutriment, would be guilty of his death.
Sekeletu decided that the owner of this boy should give up his alleged right
rather than destroy the child. When I took him he was so far gone
as to be in the cold stage of starvation, but was soon brought round
by a little milk given three or four times a day. On leaving Linyanti
I handed him over to the charge of his chief, Sekeletu, who feeds his servants
very well. On the other hand, I have seen instances in which
both men and women have taken up little orphans and carefully reared them
as their own children. By a selection of cases of either kind,
it would not be difficult to make these people appear
excessively good or uncommonly bad.

I still possessed some of the coffee which I had brought from Angola,
and some of the sugar which I had left in my wagon. So long
as the sugar lasted, Sekeletu favored me with his company at meals;
but the sugar soon came to a close. The Makololo, as formerly mentioned,
were well acquainted with the sugar-cane, as it is cultivated by the Barotse,
but never knew that sugar could be got from it. When I explained the process
by which it was produced, Sekeletu asked if I could not buy him an apparatus
for the purpose of making sugar. He said that he would plant the cane largely
if he only had the means of making the sugar from it. I replied
that I was unable to purchase a mill, when he instantly rejoined,
"Why not take ivory to buy it?"  As I had been living at his expense,
I was glad of the opportunity to show my gratitude by serving him;
and when he and his principal men understood that I was willing
to execute a commission, Sekeletu gave me an order for a sugar-mill,
and for all the different varieties of clothing that he had ever seen,
especially a mohair coat, a good rifle, beads, brass-wire, etc., etc.,
and wound up by saying, "And any other beautiful thing you may see
in your own country."  As to the quantity of ivory required to execute
the commission, I said I feared that a large amount would be necessary.
Both he and his councilors replied, "The ivory is all your own;
if you leave any in the country it will be your own fault."
He was also anxious for horses. The two I had left with him
when I went to Loanda were still living, and had been of great use to him
in hunting the giraffe and eland, and he was now anxious to have a breed.
This, I thought, might be obtained at the Portuguese settlements.
All were very much delighted with the donkeys we had brought from Loanda.
As we found that they were not affected by the bite of the tsetse,
and there was a prospect of the breed being continued, it was gratifying
to see the experiment of their introduction so far successful.
The donkeys came as frisky as kids all the way from Loanda
until we began to descend the Leeambye. There we came upon
so many interlacing branches of the river, and were obliged to drag them
through such masses of tangled aquatic plants, that we half drowned them,
and were at last obliged to leave them somewhat exhausted at Naliele.
They excited the unbounded admiration of my men by their knowledge
of the different kinds of plants, which, as they remarked,
"the animals had never before seen in their own country;"
and when the donkeys indulged in their music, they startled the inhabitants
more than if they had been lions. We never rode them, nor yet the horse
which had been given by the bishop, for fear of hurting them by any work.

Although the Makololo were so confiding, the reader must not imagine
that they would be so to every individual who might visit them.
Much of my influence depended upon the good name given me by the Bakwains,
and that I secured only through a long course of tolerably good conduct.
No one ever gains much influence in this country without
purity and uprightness. The acts of a stranger are keenly scrutinized
by both young and old, and seldom is the judgment pronounced,
even by the heathen, unfair or uncharitable. I have heard women
speaking in admiration of a white man because he was pure,
and never was guilty of any secret immorality. Had he been,
they would have known it, and, untutored heathen though they be,
would have despised him in consequence. Secret vice becomes known
throughout the tribe; and while one, unacquainted with the language,
may imagine a peccadillo to be hidden, it is as patent to all
as it would be in London had he a placard on his back.

27TH OCTOBER, 1855. The first continuous rain of the season
commenced during the night, the wind being from the N.E., as it always was
on like occasions at Kolobeng. The rainy season was thus begun,
and I made ready to go. The mother of Sekeletu prepared a bag of ground-nuts,
by frying them in cream with a little salt, as a sort of sandwiches
for my journey. This is considered food fit for a chief.
Others ground the maize from my own garden into meal, and Sekeletu pointed out
Sekwebu and Kanyata as the persons who should head the party
intended to form my company. Sekwebu had been captured by the Matebele
when a little boy, and the tribe in which he was a captive had migrated
to the country near Tete; he had traveled along both banks of the Zambesi
several times, and was intimately acquainted with the dialects spoken there.
I found him to be a person of great prudence and sound judgment,
and his subsequent loss at the Mauritius has been, ever since,
a source of sincere regret. He at once recommended our keeping
well away from the river, on account of the tsetse and rocky country,
assigning also as a reason for it that the Leeambye beyond the falls
turns round to the N.N.E. Mamire, who had married the mother of Sekeletu,
on coming to bid me farewell before starting, said, "You are now going
among people who can not be trusted because we have used them badly;
but you go with a different message from any they ever heard before,
and Jesus will be with you and help you, though among enemies;
and if he carries you safely, and brings you and Ma Robert back again,
I shall say he has bestowed a great favor upon me. May we obtain a path
whereby we may visit and be visited by other tribes, and by white men!"
On telling him my fears that he was still inclined to follow
the old marauding system, which prevented intercourse, and that he,
from his influential position, was especially guilty in the late forays,
he